Guillaume Belfiore

∞ Yahoo explores options for Japan business

From FT.com

Yahoo is moving closer to shedding its stake in Yahoo Japan as it waits for US tax authorities to give guidance on a structure through which the embattled internet company could cash in on its holding.

Yahoo’s 35 per cent stake in the Japanese business, which has a total market value of about $19bn and net cash of $2bn, is seen by people familiar with the matter as an asset the company could dispose of relatively quickly, simplifying its strategic alternatives.

∞ Yahoo! Search Trends: Halloween 2011

From YsearchBlog.com

With “Halloween costume idea” searches up 351% this monthon Yahoo!, everyone from grandma to the family dog are getting prepared to trick-or-treat this Halloween. From Pam Am Stewardesses to Charlie Sheen, Halloween searches range from traditional to pop culture driven, and one thing that is certain is #winning the Halloween race means finding a costume that hits home with you. Yahoo! searches reveal what’s piquing the interest of Americans this Halloween season.

∞ Yang May Make Play To Take Yahoo Private

Not sure what private equities could really bring to Yahoo! though

From FoxBusiness.com

Yahoo! (YHOO: 15.84, 0.37, 2.39%) co-founder Jerry Yang is reportedly interested in teaming up with private-equity firms to take the struggling Internet giant private.

The report comes as a flurry of potential suitors examine making a play for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo!, which is re-examining its strategic options after firing CEO Carol Bartz last week.

According to Reuters, Yang is considering a deal with private-equity firms to take Yahoo!, which has a $20 billion market cap, off of the public markets. Under this scenario, Yang and co-founder David Filo would need to roll over their stakes in the company, which recently stood at 3.63% and 5.90%, respectively, Reuters reported.

∞ Microsoft considers bidding for Yahoo

A new saga has started :) :

Microsoft joins a host of other companies looking at Yahoo, which has a market value of about $20 billion and is readying financial pitch books for potential buyers, they said.

Those companies include buyout shops Providence Equity Partners, Hellman & Friedman and Silver Lake Partners, as well as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Russian technology investment firm DST Global, the sources said.

∞ 30 new apps on Y! Connected TV

From Yodel Anectodal : 

Today, we’re introducing more than 30 new TV apps available across the Yahoo! Connected TV platform, bringing the total to more than 120 available TV apps. Connected TV apps range in purpose from fun to functional, including social networking, streaming music, casual games, personalized financial quotes, locally relevant news, weather and sports, and more than 75,000 movies and TV shows on demand

∞ YouTube Founders Buy Delicious From Yahoo

From the NYT :

Fans of Delicious, an online bookmarking service, raised a ruckus after word leaked four months ago that its owner, Yahoo, might shutter it as part of a streamlining plan.

To deflect criticism, Yahoo quickly reassured users that it was trying to find Delicious a new home rather than kill it.

On Wednesday, Yahoo said that it had succeeded in finding a buyer — a team led by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the co-founders of YouTube. Their acquisition is a surprise move for the duo, who quietly left YouTube in the years after it was bought by Google five years ago for $1.65 billion.

∞ "Improve" Yahoo! Mail, at what cost ?

What is the “Improve Yahoo! Mail” Research Project? The “Improve Yahoo! Mail” Research Project will review and analyze a small percentage of user emails, IMs (instant messages), and other communications content to help Yahoo! plan new features and products, create better advertising experiences, and better understand our users’ needs and desires.

The new Yahoo Mail app, called “Improve Yahoo! Mail” looks kind of weird and not really Yahoo-like. basically if you opt-in you just grant access to your email to be scan by REAL people who can actually read them for

developing an understanding of the effectiveness and accuracy of not only new Yahoo! Mail product features, but also the personalization of new and existing products, features, content, and advertising.

∞ Yahoo to Spin Out Hadoop Engineering Group for $1 Billion Opportunity

From Read Write Cloud :

Yahoo has invested considerable resources into Apache Hadoop over the past several years. And now it is considering spinning out the engineering group responsible for the data analysis software into a separate company that it believes has the potential to be a $1 billion business.

Hadoop is the open source distributed data technology that is now used by Web companies and increasingly by enterprise providers. It’s an analytics and optimization tool that Yahoo uses to personalize content and optimize advertising.