Yahoo

For the most recent chunk of our Internet lives, most of us have been on autopilot. When it comes time to look something up on the Web, we "Google it." We don't do this generically, in the manner that someone may "Xerox" a document on a Ricoh copier. We literally "Google it," entering a search term (say, "Facebook widgets") in the box at google.com, hitting enter and letting Google supply us with an impressive absurdity: 7,880,000 results in 0.21 seconds, somewhere between 7,879,980 and 7,879,999 of which we will never consider.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Yahoo! Inc. agreed yesterday to buy GeoCities for $3.56 billion in stock, giving the world's biggest Internet search service more than 3.5 million customers with personal Web pages.The offer valued GeoCities at $113.66 a share, or a 52 percent premium, based on the closing price Wednesday. Yahoo! will issue 0.3384 shares for each GeoCities share.The acquisition combines the most traveled gateway on the Internet with one of the most popular Web destinations.Yahoo! is capitalizing on the Internet boom by using its shares, which have soared more than 12-fold in the past 12 months, as currency to acquire the largest provider of personal Web pages.

Shauna London doesn't own a computer or pay for an Internet connection. Yet the 22-year-old nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital manages to keep up a lively e-mail correspondence with dozens of friends and relatives. Her secret: a free e-mail account with Yahoo!Since it was introduced in 1996, "freemail" has become one of the hottest draws on the World Wide Web, giving anyone with access to a browser -- at work, at school, in a library or a friend's home -- the means to send and receive electronic messages.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks rose yesterday, as Yahoo! Inc.'s $5.7 billion acquisition of Broadcast.com Inc. spurred expectations for consolidation in the online industry.SBC Communications Inc. and other telephone companies gained on optimism that the Internet's growth will boost demand for data transmission.The Dow Jones industrial average gained 46.35, to 9,832.51, after being little changed for much of the day. Stocks got a boost late in the session from computer-guided buy programs.The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.35 to 1,293.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks were mixed yesterday. The Dow Jones industrial average recovered almost all of a 118-point plunge as banking and computer shares rallied, while concern that profit won't justify big gains depressed most shares.Many traders were expecting a large decline yesterday after Abby Joseph, strategist for Cohen Goldman, Sachs & Co., and Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alice M. Rivlin warned that stocks may have risen too far, too fast, and Brazil's budget crisis is worsening.

THE STOCK market thinks Yahoo! Inc. is worth $10 billion more than Sears, Roebuck & Co. even though Sears sells more in two days than Yahoo! does in a year. Internet site Yahoo! is supposed to be a "portal," a profitable funnel through which tomorrow's 100-proof commerce will be forced, and its ascent to $286 a share last week coincides with a bull market in funnels everywhere.Case in point: The port of Baltimore is apparently a genuine candidate to win its biggest shipping deal ever, a pact with Maersk Inc. and Sea-Land Services Inc. that would triple its volume of freight containers.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks were mixed yesterday. The Dow Jones industrial average recovered almost all of a 118-point plunge as banking and computer shares rallied, while concern that profit won't justify big gains depressed most shares.Many traders were expecting a large decline yesterday after Abby Joseph, strategist for Cohen Goldman, Sachs & Co., and Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alice M. Rivlin warned that stocks may have risen too far, too fast, and Brazil's budget crisis is worsening.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Yahoo! Inc. planned to stop using RealNetworks Inc.'s software to play audio and video on its broadcast site before reversing its decision, according to radio stations featured on the No. 1 Internet search service's site.The site, which allows users to hear programs from a large number of radio stations, planned to drop RealNetworks' software in favor of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media software by tomorrow, said Christa Wessel, Web services director at station WCPE in Wake Forest, N.C. She said the station's contact at Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. took another step yesterday to establish itself as one of the Internet's dominant companies, agreeing to buy online audio and video company Broadcast.com Inc. in an all-stock deal initially valued at $5.7 billion.Yahoo! is already the most widely used Internet navigation service. With 50 million users per month worldwide, it is the second-most-visited site in cyberspace, behind America Online.However, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Yahoo! has refused to stand pat. In January, it struck a deal to buy personalized Web page company GeoCities Inc. for $3.6 billion.

Where did you start online today?Several Internet companies are investing millions of dollars to persuade people to begin their daily online trek with them.Yahoo, Excite, Netscape, Lycos and other familiar online names are adding to their features in hopes that users will dig into their browser preferences file and change the default home page setting to their address.Make them your "start page," as they call this Internet entry point, and in return these Net firms will give you free stock quotes, customized news headlines, local television listings, weather, e-mail, chat and other features.

Government to announce new FHA loan assistance WASHINGTON - Loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration will be eligible for payment reductions similar to the Obama administration's loan modification program, the government will announce today. Effective Aug. 15, financially troubled homeowners who have an FHA-insured loan can apply for a modification under a program parallel to "Making Home Affordable" to help lower their payments and avoid foreclosure. The program is designed to lower monthly payments for 3 million to 4 million borrower.

On the Web: * Nominees for the 13th annual Webby awards will be online at 9 a.m. Tuesday at webbyawards.com. The ceremony, to be held June 8 in New York, may be best known for the five-word acceptance speech limit. Speeches by past winners include Al Gore's ("Please don't recount this vote"), the Beastie Boys' ("Can anyone fix my computer?") and Arianna Huffington's ("President Obama. Sounds good, right?"). * In time for Earth Day on April 22, Yahoo Green recently launched green.yahoo.

Starbucks to close 7 Maryland stores Starbucks Coffee Company said this week it is closing 195 stores across the country, including seven in Maryland, as consumers worried about the economy continue to cut back on luxuries such as gourmet coffee. In the Baltimore area, the Seattle-based company will close a store at Westfield Annapolis mall as well as the location at 300 N. Charles St. in downtown Baltimore. Starbucks has more than 200 stores in Maryland. Andrea K. Walker China's reserves at $1.9 trillion BEIJING : China's central bank says its foreign exchange reserves rose 16 percent year-on-year to $1.954 trillion by the end of March.

It used to be that if you needed extra cash you could work overtime or find a part-time job. But these days, when companies are cutting back on workers' hours - and even Starbucks is laying off baristas - you might have to resort to nontraditional ways to raise money. Search engine Yahoo says many people are doing just that by going online. In the past month, searches for "make money online" have risen 1,725 percent, Yahoo says. "People are looking to do whatever they have to do to make ends meet," says Heather Cabot, Yahoo Web life editor.

Yahoo Inc. and Carl C. Icahn announced yesterday that they had settled their dispute over the makeup of the company's board, striking a compromise that will give the dissident investor and his allies three of the board's 11 seats. The move ends a showdown that had been set for Yahoo's annual meeting Aug. 1, when shareholders would have voted on a rival slate of board members proposed by Icahn. He had vowed to pursue a sale of Yahoo to Microsoft Corp. Under the agreement, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang will remain chief executive and Roy Bostock will remain board chairman.

SAN FRANCISCO - Billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn is weighing whether to use the stake he has amassed in Yahoo Inc. to launch a proxy fight to unseat some of the Internet pioneer's board members after Microsoft Corp.'s failed bid for the company, two people familiar with the matter said yesterday. Icahn has purchased about 50 million Yahoo shares, roughly 4 percent of the company, since Microsoft pulled its $47.5 billion offer for Yahoo, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Running out of time and options, Yahoo Inc. again rebuffed Microsoft Corp.'s buyout offer yesterday and continued to seek refuge in the arms of Time Warner Inc. Yahoo, which faces a takeover fight if it does not reach a deal with Microsoft by April 26, is trying to sell a substantial minority stake to Time Warner, according to people familiar with the talks. The deal being discussed would combine Yahoo with Time Warner's beleaguered AOL Internet unit. Time Warner's stake, if committed to support Yahoo's management against Microsoft, would make it harder for the software giant to win a threatened proxy fight.

When she whipped out her iPhone, Erica Sadum could feel her husband's eyes roll. But she had a point to prove. In less than a minute, she was able to report to the skeptics around the dinner table that Menno Simons, whose followers are known as Mennonites, was in fact born in 1496. Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which went on sale nine months ago, isn't the only so-called smart phone that provides itinerant access to the Web. But its wide screen and top-quality browser make it easy to use and read, which means it can in seconds change a lighthearted conversation into the Pursuit of Truth.

As it scrambles to avoid defeat in its battle with Microsoft, Yahoo is trying to put a little more time on the clock. Microsoft Corp., whose offer for Yahoo Inc. is now worth $41.2 billion, was preparing to escalate its takeover fight by starting a proxy contest next week. But in an effort to delay that move, Yahoo said yesterday that it was extending the deadline for nominating directors until 10 days after the announcement of a date for its annual meeting. The maneuver comes as Yahoo has stepped up merger and joint venture talks with AOL LLC, a unit of Time Warner Inc., people involved in the talks said.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A week after saying he wouldn't get into a bidding war for Yahoo Inc., Rupert Murdoch is emerging as a potential white knight for the Internet company as it tries to fend off Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited takeover bid, according to people familiar with the talks. Murdoch's News Corp. is working on an offer to merge its Internet business, which includes social-networking site MySpace, with Yahoo in exchange for a major stake in the company, according to people who have been briefed on the discussions.