Yahoo

Yahoo has lost a key employee to Google, a new report claims.

All Things Digital reported yesterday that Prabhakar Raghavan, Yahoo Labs unit chief and the company's head of search strategy, has left the online giant. In a follow-up statement to All Things Digital, Yahoo confirmed Raghavan's departure and thanked him for his work over the last seven years.

Although Yahoo made no mention of where Raghavan was going, All Things Digital cited sources claiming he was on his way to Google to fill an undisclosed position.

Raghavan was heavily involved in a host of Yahoo projects over … Read more

Yahoo is still working hard to turn some or all of its Asian assets into cash.

According to Reuters, Yahoo is currently considering a complex deal in which it would sell back slightly more than half of its stake in China's Alibaba Group--specifically, shares equivalent to about 25 percent of Alibaba. Yahoo acquired a 40 percent stake in Alibaba in 2005 for $1 billion, and could stand to make more than $8 billion in the deal.

Of course, nothing is ever simple with Yahoo, and the deal it's putting together with Alibaba is no exception. Yahoo would only … Read more

Yahoo is currently in discussions with Yahoo Japan to sell off its share in the Asian company.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Yahoo Japan Chief Financial Officer Akira Kajikawa said that Yahoo is trying to "finalize the mechanism [for selling its stake] and we are cooperating with them," according to The Wall Street Journal, which was in attendance at the event.

Kajikawa didn't say how Yahoo would go about selling its 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, but according to the Journal's sources, the company is trying to find a way to do it without paying taxes. … Read more

Yahoo's board has been wooing potential suitors for months, but now that it has some offers, it wants more from would-be investors, a new report claims.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, Yahoo's board has several minority-stake investment proposals in play, but has gone back to suitors, requesting a higher premium on its stock price or more attractive terms.

Silver Lake Partners, which has been rumored to have offered $16.60 per share for about a 20 percent stake in Yahoo, has been one of the firms hit with rebuttals from Yahoo, according to the … Read more

A Yahoo shareholder has launched a class action lawsuit against the online giant, alleging that a ban on cross talk for firms interested in acquiring the company is anticompetitive and harms shareholders.

"The No Cross Talk Provision constitutes an unreasonable anti-takeover device, designed to entrench and favor [Yahoo co-founder Jerry] Yang and the current Board," M&C Partners III, the case's plaintiff, wrote in a suit obtained by CNET and filed with the Delaware Chancery Court last week. "It tilts the playing field unreasonably in favor of Yang, who is working to attract investors who … Read more

As Yahoo's board and executive team consider a growing number of acquisition bids, the company's employees are considering other opportunities, a new report claims.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in a story published today, several unnamed Yahoo employees say that morale is on the decline at the company, causing many folks to think seriously about going elsewhere.

"If you're not growing, if you're not giving people challenging things to work on, if you're not holding out the promise of creating some personal wealth during one of the frothiest technology markets in modern history, … Read more

Alibaba Group and Softbank are trying to woo investors to help them acquire Yahoo outright, a new report claims.

Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reported today that the companies are looking for investment firms that haven't signed the Yahoo nondisclosure agreement. Terms of the nondisclosure agreement ban companies that have signed it from talking with other firms about entering into strategic partnerships to acquire the online giant.

However, as Bloomberg reported, according to its sources, Yahoo "prefers to sell a smaller stake, rather than cede complete control," so Alibaba and Softbank's efforts might come up empty.

Talk … Read more

AOL has lost one of the top executives to music-streaming service Spotify, All Things Digital is reporting today.

According to All Things Digital, Jared Grusd, AOL's senior vice president for business development and chief of strategy, has left the company to pursue an unspecified role at Spotify. Although All Things Digital wasn't able to nail down what position he'll take on, its sources say that it's a "high-level position in New York."

After making a name for itself in Europe, Spotify made its U.S. debut in July.

As Grusd reportedly pursues a new … Read more

Yahoo has made the controversial decision to ban all cross talk as part of the bidding process for its company, according to a Reuters report citing anonymous sources.

Yahoo's non-disclosure agreement, which must be signed by potential suitors who want nonpublic financial data, forces them to agree to not discuss their bidding plans with any other company that might be considering making an offer for the online giant, the Reuters report said. The move, according to the news service's sources, is designed to increase competition and limit the chances of several firms combing their cash into one big … Read more