Who does it, with what and to whom?

by Eric

Press speculation on the continued positioning of some of the big players in and around the classified field continues to fill the financial columns.

When Google explained somewhat disingenuously that the reasoning behind its’ new $4 billion share issue was “to obtain additional capital”, most people would have been more than a little cynical about the motives when the company was already sitting on over $3 billion of unencumbered cash.

As Times Business points out, there would seem to be no way that $7 billion would be needed for increased revenue and capital expenditure. So there is much conjecture as to what else.

Baidu could well be a target for some of the cash, especially now that Yahoo has shown their cards in China by hooking up with Alibaba. However, it seems fairly clear that they will not let their battle over “who has got the biggest” (search engine of course) rest at that. An extension into other theatres of war seems imminent.

The Sunday Times reports both companies as flirting with Trader Classified Media owner of a wide range of traditional classified newsprint titles, for a tie-up/acquisition. The newspaper goes as far as to say that its’ own parent, News Corporation, had been interested but considered the price too high. Whether this could be considered just “knocking” copy is not particularly clear, but the waters continue to be very muddy.

And where there’s muck there’s brass…