Tag: aol

You’re trapped by mobile ads

Posted on March 9, 2015 by - News

330ogleA frenzy of competition from major vendors for advertising revenue including the mobile market means growth between now and 2020 compared to the conventional advertising market.

That’s the conclusion of ABI Research today, which said in a report the competition is between Yahoo, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others to push adverts at you through your mobile device.

Growth in the mobile advertising market is set to grow 16 percent CAGR between 2015 and 2020, compared to the total advertising market at 11 percent.

ABI thinks that mobile advertising will represent over 50 percent of total advertising revenue in the next few years.

Right now, Twitter and Facebook have the largest chunk of the market and so the strongest mobile advertising revenues.

The research company believes that there will be plenty of acquisitions as the different players jockey for position to grow their revenues.

Google is the clear leader in the search advertising sector but it faces increasing competition in the years to come, too.

Yahoo investors want Mayer’s head on a spike

Posted on November 12, 2014 by - News

11Knives are being sharpened, torches and pitchforks are being prepared, as Yahoo shareholders prepare to lynch CEO Marissa Mayer.

So far the top 10 Yahoo shareholders have made a direct appeal to  AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to explore a merger and run the combined company.

Their move follows an activist campaign by hedge fund Starboard Value, which is pushing Yahoo to consider a deal with AOL and unlock Yahoo’s valuable stakes in Asian Web companies.

Armstrong has been receptive to these Yahoo shareholders and acknowledged the potential benefits of a deal, the Yahoo investors said.

But Armstrong has indicated he would only consider a friendly deal, which would probably not involve Mayer’s head on display.

Shareholders think that if the two companies merged the combined company could yield as much as $1.5 billion in cost savings.

Starboard wants Yahoo to spin off its Web and email business, merging them into AOL, one Yahoo investor who has spoken with the activist said. That would leave Yahoo’s holdings in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Yahoo Japan in a separate company, satisfying investors who want the company to monetize those assets.

Starboard has a history of taking on AOL, unsuccessfully. In  2012  it lost a battle to unseat three board directors.

Armstrong is a former Google exec who has been at the helm at AOL since 2009, is credited with reviving a dying brand. AOLs market cap of $3.5 billion has roughly doubled in value since he has been in charge.

Yahoo stock has tripled since Mayer joined Yahoo as CEO in July 2012, but most of this is due to the rapid appreciation in the value of its Asian assets. Mayer has urged investors to be patient for what she has said will be a multi-year effort to revitalise the company.