Mergers and Acquisitions Case Study: Yahoo’s Acquisition of Associated Content

1496 Words6 Pages
Introduction Companies all over the world are grappling with increasing competition and trying to survive in the market. Both large and small companies are searching for ways to get new opportunities to increase market share and profitability while trying to overcome the ever-increasing challenges. One of the popular means by which companies acquire new capabilities, infrastructure, customers and technologies is through mergers and acquisitions (Boone & Kurtz, 2013). Managers of companies consider merging or acquiring other organizations to translate to increase in competencies and expertise, increase of the market share or even a possibility to enter new markets. While the goal of mergers and acquisitions is increased profitability and shareholder value, analysts suggest that less than 50% of mergers are successful (Forer et. al., 2013). This is because of post mergers/acquisition challenges, which are usually underestimated. This paper is a case study of the circumstances surrounding a corporate acquisition and the results of it. Yahoo’s Acquisition of Associated Content One of the most talked about acquisitions in the recent years is Yahoo’s acquisition of Associated Content, which was closed in May 2010. Associated Content was an open article creation and distribution site with thousands of semiprofessional contributors from around the world. Associated Content had been successful in creating over two million pieces of audio, video, text, and photographic content through more than 380,000 loyal contributors. Associated Content worked by having freelancers creating content and uploading it to the website, after which they would be paid for their work. The monetization of the articles would be done over the lifetime of the piece, and the content was considered annuity for both the contributors and Associated Content (Grier, 2010). Circumstances around the

More about Mergers and Acquisitions Case Study: Yahoo’s Acquisition of Associated Content

Open Document