Well, it's not for "sales".

Story: Microsoft Offers $44.6B for YahooTotal Replies: 3
Author Content
Bob_Robertson

Feb 03, 2008
8:23 AM EDT
I was looking at the money in an article in the local paper about this merger idea.

Microsoft said it would gain them some $1B in income each year by buying Yahoo.

...but that's $1B/year, for a $44.2B investment.

That's a return of less than 2.5%.

So we all can rest assured that Microsoft is in no way doing this for the money. With Microsoft's cash reserves, they could give up writing software entirely, sell their campuses, invest all the money in mutual funds, hedge funds and the like, and pay all their employees for the rest of their lives, and maybe make even more money than they already do.
hkwint

Feb 03, 2008
9:54 AM EDT
Quoting:That's a return of less than 2.5%.


$1B/year times 44 years wuold still equal an 'exact' return of investment. So I wonder how many years you should take when "calculating" ROI.
jdixon

Feb 03, 2008
10:55 AM EDT
> That's a return of less than 2.5%.

By comparison, a 30 year treasury bond is currently returning 4.32%.

For those interested, you can get the current rates here: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/debt-managem...
Bob_Robertson

Feb 03, 2008
4:21 PM EDT
> I wonder how many years you should take when "calculating" ROI.

A good business to buy into will have an ROI of 8 years, a not so great 10 years.

44 year payback is _abominable_ in terms of a business investment. The "treasury bond" investment doesn't pay great, but there is no risk.

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