Yahoo CEO tells board sale imminent
Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer reassured investors that the process to potentially sell the web portal's operations is progressing and she's pleased with the interest her company has received.
Mayer told investors Thursday at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Santa Clara, Calif., that she understands the strategic review is "top of mind" for them -- and it's also a top priority for the board. At what could be the company's final such event as a stand-alone public entity, Mayer also emphasized that the web portal is moving toward better financial health.
"We are continuing to make great progress on our process," she said. "I have been heartened by the level of interest in Yahoo."
Yahoo is undergoing a sale process after Mayer failed in her effort that began almost four years ago to turn around the company's finances.
In a recent bidding round, the web portal attracted interest from suitors including Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Quicken Loans Inc., founder Dan Gilbert, with each vying for Yahoo's core internet business, as well as some of its intellectual property and real estate assets, according to people familiar with the matter.
-- Bloomberg News
India's Ola battles Uber for dominance
The battle for India's ride-hailing market between the dominant homegrown Ola and global rival Uber Technologies Inc. heated up with Ola saying the upshot of the debate is about minding local laws.
Ola has used a blog post to state its view that the fight isn't about where companies are based, but adhering to the rules. It's the latest salvo in a dispute that has spanned India's streets to the nation's courtrooms.
"The debate in our view is not about foreign versus local but about who is respectful of the local laws and who is disrespectful," Pranay Jivrajka, Ola's chief operating officer, said in a blog post titled "The Law Is the Law." "Ola has always taken an approach of working in partnership with the government."
Ola and its chief executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal are engaged in stiff competition with billionaire Travis Kalanick's Uber, which has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in India to expand its share. India is a key geography for both, by virtue of being the only focus for Ola and being vital for San Francisco-based Uber's plans to gain global dominance in ride-hailing.
Uber didn't immediately respond to emailed requests for comment on Ola's statement.
-- Bloomberg News
Facebook gains 4 million African users
Facebook Inc. increased the number of regular users in its three biggest African markets by 13 percent in the nine months through March as the U.S. social network intensified growth plans on the continent.
The company added 4 million account holders who use the network at least once a month in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, Africa Chief Executive Officer Nunu Ntshingila told reporters in Johannesburg last week. That increased the total across the three countries to 35.5 million, including 16 million in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.
The growth has been led by Ntshingila, the former chairman of U.K. advertiser WPP Plc's Ogilvy & Mather agency in South Africa, who joined Facebook when the company opened its first African office in Johannesburg a year ago. To overcome obstacles such as the lack of high-speed connectivity on the continent, the company started products that need less data, including Facebook Lite.
Facebook said last year it had agreed with Paris-based Eutelsat Communications SA to launch a satellite to provide internet to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
-- Bloomberg News
Lionsgate studio buying cable's Starz
The movie studio Lionsgate agreed on Thursday to buy Starz, the premium cable channel home to hit shows like Outlander, for about $4.4 billion in the latest round of media consolidation.
The deal brings an end to years of speculation about the fate of Starz, which was spun off from the Liberty media empire controlled by billionaire John C. Malone.
Malone helped orchestrate a complicated stock swap last year that gave Lionsgate a stake in Starz -- and himself a board seat on Lionsgate. The mogul controls the voting power at Starz as well.
Lionsgate, the studio behind The Hunger Games movie franchise and Mad Men, had long been considered as a likely buyer. Adding a cable channel could help provide scale at a time when other studios have been swallowed up by bigger entertainment giants, while providing ballast for a sometimes volatile movie business.
The offer values Starz A shares at $32.21 each, based on June 29 closing prices, representing a roughly 14 percent premium.
The deal is expected to close by the year's end, pending approval by shareholders and regulators.
-- The New York Times
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