What are the odds of Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc. merger?

AOL Inc. is a mass media company whereas YHOO! Inc. is a search engine company. Both of these companies are American multinational internet and media corporations. Despite that these companies are not under the massive spotlight these days when compared to companies like Google, Yahoo and AOL were the powerhouses of Information Technology world in the past. In recent times, both of these companies have been going through rough phases therefore in order to revive its business; rumors are growing about a possible merger of Yahoo and AOL.

Many sources say that “Speculation is brewing about whether Yahoo! might use some or the entire $5 billion windfall it will get from the Alibaba IPO to purchase AOL.” Analysts believe that this is a very interesting proposition but the question here arises if this is the best option for Yahoo to purchase or merge with AOL? Is it worth the money or all this hard work will go in vain? In most people’s minds, Yahoo! and AOL is essentially the same thing. They are buffets of content. ETFdailynews.com reported that “The fortunes of these two businesses, however, rest mostly on advertising. And there’s plenty of competition for advertising dollars from the likes of Google and Facebook. Both companies need to evolve, and on that count, Yahoo has the upper hand, having invested more into buying intriguing start-ups.”

Best place to buy Apple products is Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is branded as WalMart. Wal-Mart is an American multinational retail store company which is engaged in operating one of the biggest store chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company has proved to be a tough competitor for Amazon, Target, and EBay etc. in the market. Despite of the fact that company does not offer the least prices when compared to Amazon, it is trying to catch up with Amazon for its survival. Even though the company is trying to chase Amazon, it is believed that Wal-Mart will be giving away Apple products at best prices.

BGR reported that “The giant U.S. retailer easily bests its rivals when it comes to providing the biggest savings for the post-Thanksgiving shopping craze. An average 44.5 per cent of discount on consumer electronic products will mark Wal-Mart’s generosity this year, which of course will kick off on November 28.”  Wal-Mart is ahead of its peers and competitors after giving out the most tempting discounted prices on Apple products which include iPhone 6, iPad Air 2, and a few other gadgets. Even Best Buy has fallen behind Wal-Mart in terms of tempting prices of Apple products.

International Business Times reports that “the iPhone 6 on Wal-Mart can go as low as $104 with 2-year contract on the strength of a discounted initial price plus the store's $75 gift card. Buyers who will pick AT&T or Verizon as service providers can also take home the smartphone without paying a dime as both telcos dangle plans that are $0 down payment.”

Apart from all this, the company will be doing a better business than Amazon as the tempting Apple products deal will lure the customer away from other retail stores. Moreover, the top 100 items of Wal-Mart will be shipped with having no delivery charges.

Twitter to boost its E-Commerce business

TWTR is one social media platform that is immensely popular among all age groups. The company which was launched in 2006 has made a long way to success and has many potential active users that help the company to drive substantial revenues.  The company is going to new heights by pushing itself in doing business in more innovative way. The company now seeks to embark on a new venture to do business known as Twitter Offers.

This supports the company’s previous venture in the Ecommerce sector known as the buy button which allowed users to directly make transactions by paying through the buy button available on screen. Like Facebook TWTR is also a company where many entrepreneurs sell their business thus this button added to their convenience where users could simply user their credit or debit cards to make payments. TWTR itself could then benefit from the transactions made by banging revenues in their accounts. Apart from this incentives would also be given to consumers in terms of rewards on their cards.

For instance, once a user goes to buy a certain product and pays through his card a reward in the form of cash is added to his card. When he goes to any store he now does not need to present a voucher to redeem his bonus but the card will already have the payback resulting in more ease. The cash back can then be easily seen on the bank statement in general. The company acquired CardSpring earlier in 2014 and this initiate was thus this was made possible by collaborating with them.

Another benefit for businessmen is that if they start using this facility then they can directly keep a track of the popularity of their product. They will be getting direct response through the forums thus they can either amend if it is not working for them or keep the work going if they succeed.

The company has also taken security in consideration where the cards would be always encrypted and the data can always be removed whenever required. TWTR Offer is now being tested on desktops and mobile phones. If the company succeeds in delivering then eventually they will directly collaborate with brands for the promotion.

Alibaba is bigger than EBay

Jack Ma is known as China’s richest man and the founder of the most popular Chinese company, Alibaba. Jack Ma believes that Alibaba is the biggest entertainment company in the world. He said that consumers are now looking for entertainment rather than buying online through that site. Alibaba started its business journey as an e-tailer. In the longer run, Jack Ma believes that because of the largest Chinese population, Alibaba will be a vital business market to invest on. The founder of the company believes that Alibaba has and will surpass companies like EBay, Amazon, and Wal-Mart in the near future.

Apart from the B2B business industry, Jack Ma is currently residing in Southern California and is engaged in learning from Hollywood. His most important mission nowadays is to make the executives of entertainment industry understand that China will be the most important film market in the world because of its massive population's growing middle class.

Jack Ma says, “The key difference between American and Chinese movies, chiefly, that in American movies the protagonist never looks like a hero at the start but turns into one by the end. In Chinese movies, on the other hand, I’ve never seen a hero who didn’t die.” Not only this, but Jack Ma is also interested in bringing American companies to China whether in collaboration or on solely purpose. In WSJ.D Live conference in Laguna Beach, he was asked if he is interested in acquiring or purchasing companies such as EBay. He replied “Would you sell it?... There are so many good things in the world. I want to buy Google, I want to buy Apple, but I can't. Let them be good.”

Jack Ma is a sensible businessman and this trait is the reason of founding and operating which is probably the biggest company in the world, Alibaba.

How far will Amazon go with its ad-supported video?

Amazon is the benchmark for retail corporations. The company has been the best out there and has dominated the market for many years now. When compared to its peers and competitors, Amazon is way ahead of them as it provides best quality products in comparatively lower prices. Hence, when compared to its competitors, Amazon has planned to give free streaming service to its Amazon Prime members whereas Netflix will be charging around $8.99 for one month plan. Hence, this will leave the Netflix viewers in some confusion whether to stick with Netflix or switch to Amazon Prime.

Amazon already has a video streaming service under its Prime banner which is giving tough competition to Netflix and Hulu. But the company has planned something else to give itself a competitive edge over others. According to New York Post, “Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is primed and ready for a fresh assault on the streaming-video space. The e-commerce giant will roll out a new ad-supported streaming offering early next year that will be separate from its $99-a-year Prime membership, which includes a video service.” Hence as Guardian reported that this new service will give tough competition to Netflix and Hulu once it is launched.

The best part about this new streaming service is that it will be free of cost for viewers in order to lure them towards Amazon Prime membership. This new service sounds like it is TV and possibly films, rather than a short form competitor to YouTube of the kind that Yahoo is rumored to be launching soon. As Amazon has not yet disclosed anything about the number of memberships it’s Amazon Prime has, it is believed that there are more than 25 million people subscribed and watching Prime.

Hence in a nutshell, the main question arises whether this service will be a hit for Amazon giving the company a competitive edge over its peers and competitors.