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Microsoft-Yahoo merger?: The NY Post reports this morning that Microsoft has asked Yahoo to re-enter formal negotiations (Microsoft was turned down a few months back). Who knows where it will lead, but the Microsoft folks are feeling lots more pressure from Google, which picked up the Internet advertising firm DoubleClick last month. For Microsoft, attracting online advertising has been a huge frustration. How much might Yahoo go for? The guessing on Wall Street is $50 billion. From the Post:
As it stands now, a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo! would up the combined companies' share of the all-important search advertising market to 27 percent against Google's 65 percent. It would also narrow the gap in overall online ads with Google to just 13 percent. More importantly, a deal would create what one source described as "the dominant force on the Internet" in terms of eyeballs. That's an important consideration as more and more content flows online - as the equations goes, eyeballs equal advertising.
Reuters receives offer: It's described as a "preliminary approach" from an unnamed party (several wire reports say it's Canadian-based Thomson). Reuters shares are way up this morning, but any deal would be hard to pull off because of the company's unusual ownership rules. Anyone wanting to buy more than 30 percent can be turned away by a group of independent trustees. There's also talk that with Dow Jones up for grabs, Reuters could be interested in buying some of DJ's businesses, including its newswire service. AP
Meanwhile, there's Rupert: You know, the guy who wants to buy the WSJ. He sat down with the NYT and talked about the paper, the offer and how he might play things out. On the Journal itself, he's sometimes frustrated by the long stories, doesn't much care for the weekend edition (though he says he'd keep it), might consider turning Saturday's Pursuits section into a glossy weekend magazine, wouldn't mind more political coverage, and regularly reads the paper’s tech columnist, Walter Mossberg.
He insists he won’t meddle in the journalism or slash-and-burn the staff. “We’re not coming in with a bunch of cost-cutters,” he said, but added: “I’m not saying it’s going to be a holiday camp for everybody.” In an interview in his eighth-floor office in Midtown Manhattan yesterday, Mr. Murdoch, who occasionally glanced at his notes on a yellow tablet, waxed on about his plans to invest in the company’s journalism, including rebranding the forthcoming Fox business channel with The Journal’s name.
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While he said he wouldn’t take a hands-on approach, he said, “I think I’d be around the place — not every day. After all, it’s going to be News Corporation money and I’d be grossly negligent if I didn’t take a close interest.” He said that he admired the Dow Jones chief executive, Richard F. Zannino, and the newly appointed top editor, Marcus W. Brauchli, and would leave them in place. He said that he did not plan on bringing any News Corporation editors to the paper, but that he did plan to call on Robert Thomson, the editor of his Times of London and the former editor of the United States edition of The Financial Times, for advice.
Lukewarm employment report: Just 88,000 jobs were added nationwide in April, lower than analysts’ already tepid forecasts and the smallest job gain in more than two years. Also, the unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent. This could be a further sign of a cooling job market. L.A. County's jobless rate for March jumped to 5 percent, the highest level in a year. April's numbers will be out in a couple of weeks. NYT
Spidey Day: It actually started early this morning with a bunch of midnight shows (most of them reportedly sold out). The weekend numbers will be enormous - very likely breaking the all-time record of $135.6 million set last summer by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (although that film opened with lots more competition). Anyway, it'll be big. But what about "Spider-Man 4"? Sony says it’s all for it, but there will be huge demands from the talent - director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. The WSJ reports that for now they're sticking together.
The situation highlights new challenges studios face as long-running movie franchises have become an important - and extremely lucrative - part of their business model. It's an issue for almost every big movie franchise these days, from "Spider-Man" and DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek" to Walt Disney Co.'s "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Warner Bros.'s "Harry Potter." All have ensemble casts that must be kept largely intact to keep the franchise alive, and directors and producers often see themselves as part of a unified team. Of course, studios have long made sequels that required bringing back stars for repeat engagements. But in the past decade, movie budgets have soared and the time invested in franchise projects has stretched to a decade or more. And more film series are extending into fourth and fifth installments with the same set of actors, who increasingly recognize that they have a lot of leverage in the equation.
More gas records: This is normally when pump prices start edging up, but what's different this time is that they're already up - crazy up. The Auto Club reports that the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.420, which is 9.4 cents higher than last week, 16 cents higher than last month, and 11 cents higher than last year.
Picking at remains: It's looking like OC-based New Century finally has a buyer for its home-mortgage loans and securities. The WSJ is reporting that hedge-fund operator Ellington Management Group LLC has bid $58 million. Assets include a portfolio of mortgage loans with a face value of $170 million. But this is paper - not the business itself. Meanwhile, New Century has laid off another 2,000 workers; 3,200 were let go when the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
Relief for Duttons: Trying to make Dutton's Brentwood Books a cultural landmark seems to be stretching things, but the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted to at least consider the idea. Billionaire Charlie Munger, who owns the property, has announced plans to redevelop the site as a mixed-use development that would include luxury condos and a ground-level bookstore. That's gotten longtime Dutton's customers very worried, so they're trying to push the notion that the place is not only a bookstore, but a kind of community center. LAT
Westfield sues: Now that the Arcadia City Council has approved Rick Caruso's 830,000-square-foot outdoor mall right next to Santa Anita, the Australian shopping-center giant is going to court to block the project. Westfield operates a nearby mall and says that the proposed shopping center reflects "a political process where the City of Arcadia's haste and desire to approve the project outweighed proper and objective consideration of critical issues and long-term impacts." Star-News
C-17 union contract: Boeing Co. employees ratified a new three-year collective bargaining contract. Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Subcommittee recommended the purchase of 10 new C-17s in 2008. The last C-17 is expected to roll off the assembly line in mid-2009, unless the government approves the purchase of more of the cargo jets. Press-Telegram
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.