http://www.wsj.com/articles/yahoo-board-to-weigh-potential-sale-of-internet-business-sources-say-1449015461
Yahoo Board to Weigh Potential Sale of Internet Business, Sources Say
Board to discuss whether to proceed with a plan to spin off more than $30 billion in shares of Alibaba, find a buyer for core business, or both, sources said
Yahoo President and CEO Marissa Mayer is shown in January 2014. Yahoo’s board plans to meet Wednesday through Friday to discuss whether to proceed with a plan to spin off more than $30 billion in shares of Alibaba, find a buyer for Yahoo’s core business of Web properties, or both, people familiar with the matter said.
By RICK CAREW, DOUGLAS MACMILLAN and DAVID BENOIT
Updated Dec. 1, 2015 7:36 p.m. ET
4 COMMENTS
The fate of troubled Internet portal Yahoo Inc. may be decided in a marathon series of board meetings this week.
Yahoo’s board plans to weigh a potential sale of the company’s core business during a series of meetings beginning Wednesday and continuing through Friday, people familiar with the matter said.
The board is expected to discuss whether to proceed with a plan to spin off more than $30 billion in shares of Alibaba Holding Group Ltd., find a buyer for Yahoo’s core business of Web properties, or both, the people said.
In a sign that change may be afoot at the company, a Yahoo executive recently canceled an appearance at a Credit Suisse investment conference that was planned for Tuesday.
Private equity firms are expected to be among those taking a look at Yahoo’s core business, people familiar with the matter said.
Growing concerns around Chief Executive Marissa Mayer’s lack of progress turning around Yahoo and an exodus of top executives have increased pressure on the company’s board to consider her future and alternatives to her turnaround attempt, now in its fourth year.
Activist investor Starboard Value LP last month called on the company to halt its Alibaba spinoff and instead find a buyer for its Internet business. In a letter to Yahoo, Starboard said its position changed following the federal government’s decision not to rule on whether the Alibaba spinoff would incur billions of dollars in taxes.
Much of the value of Yahoo’s $31 billion market capitalization is tied up in two large Asian assets, Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. Its 15% stake in Alibaba is now worth about $32 billion, and its 35% stake in Yahoo Japan is now worth about $8.5 billion. Yahoo’s cash and short-term investments totaled $5.9 billion at the end of the third quarter.
That would mean investors are valuing Yahoo’s core business at less than zero if the Asian assets were spun out tax-free. In a research report in October, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali valued Yahoo’s core business at $3.9 billion, not including cash.
Any buyer would have to contend with the complication surrounding the Alibaba stake. Yahoo failed to get prior approval of its plan from the Internal Revenue Service, raising the risk that the agency could later challenge the spinoff’s tax-free status.
Finding a buyer for part or all of Yahoo’s business could reduce or eliminate that risk, provided the buyer comes up with a plan for what to do with the Asian assets.
There is no guarantee any new deal for part or all of Yahoo will materialize. The company has considered big merger deals in the past, mostly notably several years ago with Microsoft Corp., that it failed to strike.
Yahoo’s core business is shrinking, but it still represents some of the most visited services on the Web. Its properties, including Yahoo Mail and Yahoo News, are collectively the third-most visited Internet sites in the U.S., with 210 million visitors in October, according to comScore. Yahoo only lags Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.
Under Ms. Mayer, Yahoo has made investments in online video, advertising technology and mobile software that have failed to create meaningful traction for the company.
Ms. Mayer said in October she would adopt a new strategy to “reset” the company’s focus, without providing details. The CEO has hired management consultant McKinsey & Co. to look for areas of the company to cut, said a person familiar with the matter.
Yahoo is no stranger to takeover speculation. In 2008, activist shareholder Carl Icahn took a more than 5% stake in Yahoo, gained board seats and pushed it to sell to Microsoft in a deal that ultimately fell apart.
Last year, Starboard called on Ms. Mayer to consider a combination with AOL. Months later, Verizon Communications Inc. acquired AOL for $4.4 billion.
—Mike Shields, Dana Mattioli and Ryan Knutson
http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2378009/yahoo-bing-network-audience-stats-that-might-surprise-you
November Car Sales Drive Toward Record
Black Friday deals lift traditionally sluggish month; U.S. on target for full-year peak
By JEFF BENNETT And JOHN D. STOLL
Updated Dec. 1, 2015 3:38 p.m. ET
56 COMMENTS
U.S. new-car sales in November continued to run at a blistering pace, putting the auto industry on track to challenge the 17.35 million sales peak reached in 2000.
A spate of Black Friday deals coupled with cheap gasoline and low financing costs helped auto makers overall deliver a 1.4% increase over the same month last year, offsetting what historically is a sluggish sales month. The tally brings the industry this year to 15.82 million vehicles through November.
The results continued an annual sales pace that is tracking to be among the best in U.S. history, and raised industry optimism for a new annual record, barring a string of bad weather or other unexpected woes. Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday it would spend $1.3 billion, about a fifth of its typical annual capital-expenditure budget, to upgrade a pickup truck plant in Kentucky.
“There is a lot of inventory and auto makers are going to come out with guns blazing,” said Ernie Boch Jr., chief executive of Boch Automotive, a Norwood, Mass., dealership. “Right now, I don’t see any signs of letting up.”
With gasoline prices nationwide hovering around $2 a gallon, sales of the heavier vehicles that deliver substantially higher profits to auto makers are driving the industry. Nearly 59% of November’s volume was classified as light trucks, according to researcher Autodata Corp., including smaller SUVs.
These light trucks represented three out of every four vehicles sold by Detroit auto makers last month, representing nearly the highest mix of pickup and SUV deliveries as a percentage of sales in history. More than 80% of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV sales last month were light trucks.
The trend is leading to production cutbacks at small car plants and accelerating a shift of small-car production to lower-wage countries including Mexico. However, it is lifting average transaction prices, allowing car makers and dealers to offer hefty discounts and cut-rate financing.
Ford’s newer trucks and SUVs helped lift its average transaction price to a $36,000, up 11% compared with a year ago and nearly $4,000 higher than the U.S. industry average, the company said. General Motors Co.’s average prices were similar to Ford’s, up about $580 over a year ago.
“The taller these cars get, the more money the Detroit auto makers’ make,” said Mark Wakefield, head of consulting firm AlixPartners LLP’s automotive practice. “Only a few years ago regulators thought sales would be a 60-40 split in favor of cars and now we are seeing a reverse of that.”
IHS Automotive Analyst Tom Libby said hot sales of crossover SUVs such as the Jeep Cherokee bring higher profit and fuel-economy benefits and because owners tend to be more loyal. By offering smaller, car-based SUVs, auto makers are plugging holes in their lineups.
GM’s Chevrolet Trax and Buick Encore, small SUVs built in South Korea and introduced late last year to the U.S., have rapidly emerged as strong selling entrants helping the nation’s largest auto maker slow market share declines despite deep declines in sales of sedans and compact passenger cars.
It isn’t just domestic car makers reaping the benefits of the shift. Half of the sales reported by Japan’s biggest car makers— Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co.—were light trucks and SUVs.
‘There is concern that China, which is such a dominant part of global sales is downshifting.’
—Mark Wakefield, AlixPartners
The trend is lining Detroit’s pockets. GM and Ford posted record operating profits in North America during the third quarter, and the companies said on Tuesday that industry sales are expected to further increase in 2016.
Investors, however, are reluctant to give domestic players much credit. Shares of Ford on Tuesday rose 1.6% to $14.56, down modestly from the start of the year; GM closed up slightly at $36.26 and are nearly flat compared with the beginning of the year.
“Sales and profitability don’t always run in lockstep and investors are worried the auto industry is reaching a peak in terms of profitability,” Mr. Wakefield said. “There is concern that China, which is such a dominant part of global auto sales, is downshifting.”
Industry sales hit 1.3 million vehicles in November, representing the third consecutive month that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales topped 18 million vehicles. The record for annual sales of 17.4 million, notched in 2000, could be topped if demand continues to strengthen in December.
Fiat Chrysler posted the strongest sales gain of the Detroit Three with a 3% increase. Jeep brand sales soared 20% with the Cherokee, Compass, Patriot and Wrangler each hitting November sales peaks.
GM’s sales rose 1.5% for the month to 229,296 light vehicles. Ford recorded a less than 1% sales increase. This week, Ford abandoned a no-haggle, insider-pricing offer that failed to catch on with buyers. The Dearborn, Mich., car maker replaced it with a new program offering through Jan. 4 no-interest vehicle financing for 60 months and a $1,000 purchase incentive.
Ford said its results were aided by a 16% increase in its F-series retail sales.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen AG sales plunged 24.7% to 23,882 vehicles in the second full month after its emissions cheating scandal broke.
Toyota logged a 3.4% increase to 189,517 light vehicles, Nissan reported sales for the month increased 3.8%, as sales of crossovers, trucks and SUVs rose 15%, and Honda sales declined 5.2% from a year earlier.
—Anne Steele and Christina Rogers contributed to this article.
Write to Jeff Bennett at jeff.bennett@wsj.com and John D. Stoll at john.stoll@wsj.com
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Scientists have genetically engineered monkeys so that they exhibit behaviors similar to autism,
mustang origin story?
swampman posted:Anybody have an opinion about the correct percentage to tip at restaurants?
I'm poor but I typically go with 15
swampman posted:Anybody have an opinion about the correct percentage to tip at restaurants?
i tip 20% because the math is easy and working in the service industry is soul-crushing and i like to help in tiny ways
jiroemon1897 posted:i don't tip because i believe in revolution, not charity
*raises hackles*
swampman posted:Anybody have an opinion about the correct percentage to tip at restaurants?
just the
