Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) imminent partnership with AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Yahoo! Inc.’s (NASDAQ:YHOO) involvement in the upcoming Alibaba IPO were discussed by Doug MacMillan in a recent interview with Fox Business Network.
The discussion comes after reports that AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) will be the exclusive carrier for the upcoming Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) smartphone. The web commerce giant is expected to unveil a 3D smartphone in an event in Washington today.
According to MacMillan, the deal between Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) will give an edge to the carrier as it is expected to boost their subscriber base. The Wall Street Journal technology reporter said that if AT&T does have this deal in the bag, they will exclusively capture the market for the new Amazon smartphone which early adopters and those interested in a new kind of smartphone will want to buy.
The new phone will affect people’s decisions to switch to the carrier, he noted. It can be remembered that the carrier benefited as the sole network which offered the iPhone until Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also made the iPhone available on other networks. MacMillan said that this is a tried strategy for AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). As for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), the deal will extend their relationship with the carrier, MacMillan said, at the expense of somehow limiting their new phone’s exposure.
As for Yahoo! Inc.’s (NASDAQ:YHOO) and the upcoming Alibaba initial public offering, MacMillan said that the big takeaway from the recent disclosure of the Chinese internet commerce giant is a bit negative. He added that Alibaba actually revealed that the company’s margins are shrinking. Saying that it’s a negative sign, he noted that margins fell from 51% to 45 percent.
Yahoo! Inc.’s (NASDAQ:YHOO) has a $26-billion stake in Alibaba when the Chinese company valued its share at $50. Yahoo! Inc.’s (NASDAQ:YHOO) reportedly plans to sell about 40 percent of its stake or 208 million shares in Alibaba as the company goes public.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shareholders includes Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital which had 227,000 shares in the company by the end of March. Another shareholder is Christopher Lyle’s Scge Management which owned 170,000 during the same period.
Meanwhile, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shareholders includes Mario Gabelli’s Gamco Investors which had 129,317 shares in the telecommunications company by the end of the first quarter of the year. Another hedge fund which has shares in the company is Russell Lucas’ Lucas Capital Management which reported 114,921 shares in the company.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) stakeholders includes Thomas E. Claugus’ Gmt Capital which had about 1.54 million shares in the company as of the end of March. Another stakeholder is Alex Sacerdote’s Whale Rock Capital Management with about 1.5 million shares valued at about $53.96 million.
Disclosure: None
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