Regardless of Takeover Chatter, Yahoo Continues to Forge Ahead with Strategic Partnerships

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- Despite the $44.6 billion buyout offer from Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) that's hanging over its head, Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) gave evidence on Thursday that it remains undaunted by any takeover threats by announcing that the company continues to pursue partnership agreements with newspaper companies in order to advance its core business interests.

Rather than lurching impetuously into untested new ventures or initiatives, Yahoo’s statement demonstrates that it is adhering to its long-term business strategy of selling its strength as the best news portal.

The company’s announcement specifically pertains to four new partnership agreements with newspaper publishers, adding approximately 29 newspapers to its Newspaper Consortium, according to the press release.

The four new partnerships include the following: the Shaw Newspapers and its 25 daily and weekly newspapers covering northern Illinois and Iowa; The Buffalo News and its paper that covers Buffalo, NY; the Times Publishing Company that produces The Erie Times News in Erie, PA; and the Columbian Publishing Company that publishes The Columbian in Vancouver, WA.

This means that 634 newspapers participate in the Consortium; that’s more than triple the size it began at in 2006, Yahoo said.

The Newspaper Consortium is a revenue-generating arrangement for Yahoo and its partners in publishing because it creates a structure in which they and the advertisers can cut deals.

Indeed, Yahoo Vice President Lem Lloyd touted it as such in the company’s statement:

“Yahoo!’s continued momentum with the newspaper industry shows that current and new Consortium members value the opportunity to combine the newspapers' own unmatched local news and deep local advertising relationships with Yahoo!'s leading technologies and extensive online audience," he said.

On Friday, the markets responded tepidly to the company’s announcement, sending its share price up slightly from the previous close of $28.42 to $28.51 in late morning trading (10:55am ET).

NewsVisual decided to create an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate the business connections of Yahoo’s Board of Directors as a method for assessing their knowledge of business and for determining whether they can help the company to steer toward future revenue growth.

The Knowledge Map shows that Chairman Roy Bostock also serves on the board of Morgan Stanley and is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Northwest Airlines Corp.

The following Yahoo Directors also have strong board room experience:

Director Eirc Hippeau is also a Director for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Inc; Director Robert Kotick is also the CEO/Chairman of Activision Inc; CEO/Co-Founder Jerry Yang also sits on the board of Cisco Systems Inc and Alibaba Inc; and Director Edward Kozel also serves on the board of Network Appliance Inc.

Click here for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.