ArticleSnatch Blog

You are browsing the archives of OpenSocial Foundation.

Yahoo earnings? What Yahoo earnings? Steve Ballmer doesn’t seem to care about no stinking Yahoo earnings. Or their Google Adwords test. Or their three year revenue projections. Or their talks with Time Warner. Or forming the OpenSocial Foundation with Google. Or planning to make IndexTools free (like Google analytics).

Ballmer wants Yahoo at $31 a share and that’s that. He’s talking tough, saying he’ll go forward without a merger. But almost no one believes him. Analysts still think the bid will be raised to anywhere from $32 to $34-ish per share.

Which brings us to Jerry Yang. He’s got a poker face too, according to the analysts. Yahoo has already said No to Microsoft’s bid and then issued a reminder after Ballmer’s eviction notice. But many think Yahoo will indeed go for the sale should the bid be increased.

Increase or no increase, Wall Street seems to want this deal to go through. Unlike Google, Yahoo’s positive earnings were followed by loss on stocks on the Street. Though Google is a pesky reminder that Wall Street doesn’t always know what it’s talking about.

Culture clashes could cause huge problems for Ballmer’s goal of giving Google a run for its money. And, this will be especially true if it turns out that there is no bluff to call.

Yahoo’s two week test of Google’s search advertising has proved successful, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter.” As a result, a partnership between the two search engines is increasingly likely.

Earlier this week, SearchIgnite released data that Yahoo made gains on Google in the search advertising game. But Yahoo has a long way to go in making significant strides in the search ad game, and they have more immediate issues at hand, namely Microsoft’s unsolicited bid to acquire the company.

A partnership with Google appears to be one of many moves in what appears to be an attempt by Yahoo to fend off Microsoft in its unsolicited bid for the company or to raise the offer. Previously, Yahoo released positive revenue projections for the next three years, talked with AOL about a merger, and teamed up with Google to form the OpenSocial Foundation.

For its part, Microsoft began to grow tired waiting, and issued Yahoo an April 26th ultimatum, despite receiving a “no” from Yahoo shortly after the bid was made. And Microsoft may be feeling the pressure, as it has reportedly been talking to News Corp. about assisting in the hostile takeover.

Yahoo releases its first quarter earnings next Tuesday, April 22 at 2pm EST. Google releases its first quarter earnings today at 4:30pm EST.

Yahoo, MySpace and Google have pledged their support to open standards for social media development and data by joining together to form the OpenSocial Foundation. The group will ensure that OpenSocial continues as an open, community-governed specification.

OpenSocial is a specification, launched by Google last year, that defines a common API for social applications across multiple Web sites. It has implications for search marketers and application developers, since it will speed up the development of cross-platform applications. It could also force the hand of non-members, such as Microsoft and Facebook.

Using JavaScript and HTML, developers can create applications with OpenSocial that access features in a social network, like friends and update feeds. By using a common API, developers can build one application that will work across multiple social platforms, extending the reach of their applications and making it easier to add more functionality for users.

The formation of the foundation is not entirely altruistic. By uniting the interests of three of the largest Web entities, the group will have a strong voice in the development of future standards and specifications.

According to Yahoo, “The foundation will provide transparency and operational guidelines around technology, documentation, intellectual property, and other issues related to the evolution of the OpenSocial platform, while also ensuring all stakeholders share influence over its future direction.”