TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer has a very interesting take on MSFT/AQNT’s deal and the impact thereof on YHOO.
Before reading it I’d say I would have disagreed, but he makes a strong case in his usual understated manner, yeah right:
Cramer said Microsoft’s $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive is “such an overpay” that it unmistakeably sends the signal that Microsoft plans “to consolidate everyone” in the online advertising sector. Cramer said this move may well be “the beginning of the landgrab against Google.
Cramer said he believes Microsoft should buy Yahoo!, given that the Sunnyvale, Calif., Net company “still has fabulous traffic” and that such a deal, however costly, “could at last put Google on the defensive.”
“These guys have been schooled by Google,” Cramer said of Yahoo!. But now that Microsoft is making its intentions clear, “you cannot take anything off the table anymore.”
Cramer said Yahoo! could go to $34 from a recent $29.50 if CEO Terry Semel just quits — let alone any premium tied to any takeover.
This morning I saw YHOO opened some $0.66 higher, then I scrolled down and saw AQNT was up $27. Naturally I knew MSFT had made a move, so I was surprised that YHOO was higher too. Sure, the AQNT deal is a plus for the entire industry, but I would have thought that Wall Street would take it as a definite sign that MSFT would not make a run at AQNT… but indeed, by paying an 85% premium, it sort of suggests that MSFT is going to be getting more, and not less, aggressive.
I own shares in YHOO, AQNT. Here are a few posts pertaining to YHOO I’ve penned in the past:
Here are some previous posts on Yahoo!
:: Will Terry Semel Get the Last Laugh (Again)?
:: Should Yahoo!’s Terry Semel Go?
:: Take Yahoo! Private, Triple Your Money in Four Years?
:: Analysing Google and Yahoo!’s Traffic and Business to Understand the Gap in Market Cap
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