S&P 500
7,615.40
-0.09%
Dow Jones
51,321.50
-0.10%
Nasdaq 100
30,653.20
-0.20%
Russell 2000
2,931.58
-0.05%
FTSE 100
10,377.00
-0.11%
Nikkei 225
68,476.70
+1.44%

Investing

Could Yahoo’s Patents Affect Facebook IPO? (YHOO, GOOG, MSFT)

Photo of Paul Ausick
By Paul Ausick Published

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) doesn’t get much respect for any of its assets except for its ownership stake in Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba. But the company has a stable of patents totalling around 1,100, and some of these are related to social networking.

A story at TheStreet.com ponders the possible actions Yahoo might take to try to extract some value from its patents in advance of the coming Facebook IPO. Yahoo did license some of its paid-search intellectual property to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) prior to Google’s 2004 IPO. Yahoo could even cancel its search deal with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), which currently enjoys royalty-free use of Yahoo’s patented technology.

Whether or not Yahoo’s low-key approach to enforcing its patents will continue or whether the company will get more aggressive will be interesting to see. Certainly some of the company’s big shareholders would like to see a higher share price for Yahoo, and going after patent violations could be one way to enhance Yahoo’s value.

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

Continue Reading

Paul Ausick |

Your Next IPO Investment: Twitter or Alibaba?

Courtesy Alibaba GroupWith Twitter Inc. executives and bankers preparing for Friday’s kick-off to the roadshow they hope will convince investors…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Facebook Admits Yahoo! Problem in Filing

Facebook filed a new document in its move toward its IPO. In that document, it admitted that Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) patent…

Paul Ausick |

Yahoo! Layoffs Coming (YHOO, GOOG, MSFT)

A report at The Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital blog, cites several sources confirming that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)…

Paul Ausick |

Google Retains Massive Lead in US Search (GOOG, MSFT, YHOO, IACI, AOL)

Early leaks of search engine data from comScore shows that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has added to its market share…

Will AI Hurt Alphabet’s Stock?
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Will AI Hurt Alphabet’s Stock?

Google was founded in 1998 and went public in 2004. In the 1990s, Yahoo was the top search engine measured…

Lee Jackson |

4 Event-Driven Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2015

A new research note from Jefferies lists stocks that could have meaningful events soon. The stocks in some cases have…

Jon C. Ogg |

After Bartz & Sum of the Parts: What’s Yahoo! Worth? (YHOO, GOOG, MSFT, BX, AOL, KKR)

Yahoo.comNow that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has fired CEO Carol Bartz about as gracelessly as it could and set out…

Jon C. Ogg |

Merrill Lynch Surprise: Downgrade Google and Upgrade Yahoo on Alibaba

When was the last time you saw an analyst downgrade Google and upgrade Yahoo in the same call? That is…

Paul Ausick |

Yahoo Shares Tumble on Stalled Talks (YHOO)

Discussions among Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Japan’s Softbank, China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. over a possible sale of Yahoo’s 40%…

Top Gaining Stocks

Hewlett Packard Enterprise
HPE • Vol: 153,197,465
Enphase Energy
ENPH • Vol: 8,360,053
Corning
GLW • Vol: 18,152,646
Alexandria Real Estate Equities
ARE • Vol: 4,337,015
Aptiv
APTV • Vol: 6,761,325

Top Losing Stocks

Trade Desk
TTD • Vol: 21,905,513
Intuit
INTU • Vol: 7,383,018
Coterra Energy
CTRA • Vol: 73,319,495
Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 5,000,011
HP
HPQ • Vol: 29,259,826