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Here's the REAL sticking point between Microsoft and Yahoo!

networkworld.com — Microsoft's desperate struggle to acquire Yahoo! has gotten hung up not on disagreement over a fair price for the latter's online advertising operations, this report says, but rather the value of Yahoo!'s iconic exclamation point. After all, it's the only punctuation mark on the Internet that yodels.

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  • jimmaculate, on 05/20/2008, -2/+28Oh yeah. Yahoo's exclamation point is totally worth $2B.
    • NJank, on 05/20/2008, -0/+6i was really looking for a theonion URL on that one...
      • KayMan2k, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2yeah.. me too! especially after reading:

        "the exclamation point on Yahoo!'s homepage may be the only one on the Internet that actually yodels when clicked... 'That alone tacks a couple hundred million on the price,' he said."
    • Matteos, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1There are other punctuation marks.

      Microsoft?
    • CarnivalOfDust, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0Am I the only other person that
      a) Thinks punctuation in logos is a little retarded?
      or:
      b) Thought that Yahoo had actually ditched the ! a long time ago?

      Well, with that said, I can confidently say that Yahoo!= A great company.
  • gwaggy12, on 05/20/2008, -2/+27That's it. I'm trademarking "12"
    • bbtrev, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3"12!"
      • peacebyanymeans, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3gwaggy12™
        ...

        gwaggy, gwaggy12 and the 12 trademark are © 2008 gwaggy12. All rights reserved.
  • bgeorge82, on 05/20/2008, -1/+9lol too funny... its those marketing people and their branding.
  • mindfeck, on 05/20/2008, -1/+6Isn't the ! included in the value of the company? For example, if it was so great for marketing, Yahoo would be more profitable. It is part of the marketing for the company that leads to the current financial statements. That's all.
  • IconoclastStill, on 05/20/2008, -19/+5How can it be a sticking point - microgates can cover $2 billion with his pocket change. What I'd really like to see is macrocrap pay every user $10 - $25 for every time their OS causes a system to crash . . . then they wouldn't be spending billions buying out competitors so they can continue to inflict their bloated crapware on humanity.
    • Easty, on 05/20/2008, -2/+5You show 'em, internet.
    • sketching, on 05/20/2008, -2/+2Hmm...that would mean that I would get...$0. Of course, if they allowed for the stupid ***** I've done to cause the crashes myself, I could get a lot of money. :P
    • santaliqueur, on 05/20/2008, -1/+1You sound like you think Microsoft is Bill Gates' personal company. It isn't. Apple doesn't belong to Steve Jobs, Oracle doesn't belong to Larry Ellison...and so on. ***** retards on the internet, making me feel smarter since 1996.
  • LewP, on 05/20/2008, -9/+5How stupid is Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • KSUdesigner, on 05/20/2008, -0/+5Pretty stupid considering if they had used as many exclamation points as you just did they could've added $40 billion to their net worth.
    • CaveDog, on 05/20/2008, -4/+1you forgot some 1s. More like: Yahoo!!11!!
    • Manuelmty, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2Yahoooooo!!!!!11one!1!!1
    • diggalicus, on 05/21/2008, -0/+0They are really stupid, I personally think, They had all the money and market share ahead of GOOGLE and they really did not give a ***** about search like they should have.
  • claudia7950, on 05/20/2008, -5/+9thanks for pointing (!) to the ignorants that the ! yodels - lol!
  • AussieCynic, on 05/20/2008, -4/+6Now let this be a lesson to all the kids out there...
    learn to spell and use you PUNCTUATION
    My POINT ! = $2B
    my god... lol
    • zantos420, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2make sure you use proper grammar too before you use you punctuation
      • lkallion, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2Never mind the typos, Google still seems to be making quite well
    • cesclaveria, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2*your PUNCTUATION.
  • bibix, on 05/20/2008, -9/+8Think the software giant is Yahoo's white knight? Think again. Josh Quittner argues that Microsoft doesn't need Yahoo for domination - it needs it for survival
    • stinkipete, on 05/20/2008, -2/+6erm, yeah, that totally makes sense :|
    • thailand1972, on 05/20/2008, -2/+7That's like saying Google need to get into Operating Systems for their own survival. Google are doing well in their market. Microsoft are doing well in their market (no matter how much people go on about Vista). Microsoft don't need to be in search for their survival. Just like any company, they want to keep growing.
      • skidooer, on 05/20/2008, -2/+1"That's like saying Google need to get into Operating Systems for their own survival."

        They do. And they did. It's known as Android.

        By the same token, our desktops will some day center around finding information and if Microsoft doesn't dominate this space, you will be able to just as easily start using Linux (or whatever OS you want).
        • SmellyGeekBoy, on 05/20/2008, -1/+1Some day? That sounds like today from where I'm sitting.
  • Sarahonweb, on 05/20/2008, -10/+2Oh ....this is so hilarious..
    Nice story
    Sarah
    • jakobmakob, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Dear Sarah:

      Thanks for sharing, we don't care.

      -The Rest of Digg.
  • tokipost, on 05/20/2008, -2/+2hahaha
  • gaffer13, on 05/20/2008, -2/+15Why can't both companies just realize they need each other...hold hands...and sing a song
    • zizzybaloobah, on 05/20/2008, -3/+1Because that would them .... Google
    • duerra, on 05/21/2008, -0/+2A Microsoft/Yahoo! merger would completely blow on just about every level for the rest of the internet industry, regardless how much they "need each other" (which I don't think that they do - or at least, I don't think Yahoo! does).
  • seoweb, on 05/20/2008, -3/+2Lol, very good post.
  • aLienC, on 05/20/2008, -2/+2Nice Post lol
  • stephiecafeg, on 05/20/2008, -3/+3Great Story
  • thesupergeek, on 05/20/2008, -3/+4Yahoo has a lot of money right? So why can't they afford a clue because they don't seem to have one!
  • ColonelTribune, on 05/20/2008, -1/+9Yahooooooooooooo-hooo. God, those commercials used to be funny. Now they make me sad.
  • themaestro18, on 05/20/2008, -12/+2There was this stupid company once that wanted to trademark NSFW.
    Companies can be so stupid.

    http://www.bestsnippets.com
    • hornback, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0Thanks for plugging your extremely relevant website, jackass.
  • borez, on 05/20/2008, -2/+5They've just changed my mobile phones search engine from Google to Yahoo and it's become a pain in the arse to use the damn thing.
  • phyx726, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2Top of the muffin to YOU!!
  • scabbers, on 05/20/2008, -0/+6Is this some kind of The Onion style thing, or have my worst nightmares come true?
  • Aurabolt, on 05/20/2008, -1/+14"And, as one noted to me, the exclamation point on Yahoo!'s homepage may be the only one on the Internet that actually yodels when clicked."

    *click* *click* *click*

    =(
    • cesclaveria, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2it actually does it, or the sad face is because you didn't liked it?
    • linuxpenguin, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1It might only be the US site - but it works for me. I think you need to have Flash though (not sure if you do or not)
    • ComputerGeekMat, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1I had to disable AdBlock to get it to work.
  • infinity777, on 05/20/2008, -2/+26This is from the Onion right??
  • bardo77n, on 05/20/2008, -2/+313 things:

    1) This reads like an Onion article
    2) Am I the only guy on the planet that didn't know that clicking on the exclamation point caused the Yahoo! yodel?!
    3) How much longer am I going to have to switch from Opera to Firefox to read and leave comments on Digg?
    • NJank, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3i now know. my office mates hate me. but I just can't stop clicking...
    • santaliqueur, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8Holy *****, I didn't know that clicking on the ! did anything.
    • LCricket, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1I had no idea about the yodel either, but then again, with Google and all, I've never had reason to go to Yahoo!'s services.
  • thailand1972, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2Well it sure isn't their search engine expertise that values Yahoo! at $2B or whatever.
  • RudeCommentGuy, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0The favicon reminds me of del.icio.us.
  • halfcylon, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2They're not exactly Google, but the Yahoo!(tm) brand is still pretty strong and I'm not just talking about the big neon logo in Time Square - their Asian brand awareness is pretty impressive.
  • FearFactory, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2My brain hurts when I imagine Steve Ballmer yodeling. :(
  • MCGrunge1, on 05/20/2008, -0/+5I'm so ashamed that I never knew the ! yodeled.
  • misterteenwolf, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1any offer made to buy yahoo would be too generous. if i was them, i'd sell for a keg and a couple of hoverboards
  • xeno439, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1I don't get it, are they actually going to continue using the name after acquistion?
    If not then why give a ***** about it?
  • cesclaveria, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1the onion changed its domain name?
  • Hyperinsane, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1For UK'ers:

    If you wanna hear the yahoo yodel, go on a proxy (e.g www.proxy.org) and type in: www.yahoo.com, as the UK version of yahoo doesn't have it.
  • sonicEd, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2Funny stuff, thanks!
  • RocketGib, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Thank you Pat, I would like to buy a punctuation mark, please.
  • linuxpenguin, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2For the record, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Tenth Edition) does not have a picture of Steve Ballmer near the definition of "exclamation point".
  • venuspcs, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3How sad of a day it must be....I have been using Yahoo! since the day the launched and I had no ***** idea that damn ! actually Yodeled.....WTF is wrong with me???????
  • llbbl, on 05/20/2008, -1/+1As silly as this article is, I'm very glad they didn't merge.
  • wibambau, on 05/20/2008, -1/+1I love how significant that ! can be:

    "Congratulations. You've just won $220,000,000 in the Megamillions lottery."

    What a difference.

  • Aurabolt, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1It didn't work for me until I tried in IE. AdBlock ftw =)
  • jameshighmore, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1You kind of forced me to agree with number 3 because I wanted to digg up your comment.
  • diggalicus, on 05/21/2008, -0/+0Get TOO the Point allready and buy the damn thing
  • julia009, on 05/22/2008, -0/+0nice story..................
  • wmdpowell, on 05/22/2008, -0/+0I didn't know until now that the explanation point went Yahooooo.
  •  

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