Court Orders Yahoo To Pay Mexican Yellow Pages Companies $2.7 Billion In Mystery Case
from the billion-with-a-'b' dept
We've covered stories about the Yellow Pages and other directory companies in the past, as their business and general worth appears to be just short of evaporated, but this is a strange one. Frustratingly, there is a chasm worth of unknowns in this story, and not just by us here at Techdirt, but apparently by some of the players involved. Details are scant, due to the Mexican court system not having the kind of transparency of legal documents that we have here in the States. What we do know is that the result of a mystery lawsuit by two companies against Yahoo for "breach of contract, breach of promise, and lost profits arising from contracts related to a yellow pages listings service" is that Yahoo has been ordered to pay up $2.7 Billion (yes, with a "b") dollars. While the entire case represents something of a mystery to nearly everyone commenting on it, one commonality seems to be that everyone is confused.If the ruling stands, Yahoo would be forced to part with nearly 36% of the $7.56 billion in cash it had as of September 30. It would be one of the first major challenges faced by CEO Marissa Mayer, who took the helm at Yahoo in July.No one really seems to know what the hell is going on here, except everyone commenting agrees that the judgment amount is insane. That said, I should also note that the judgment is not final and that Yahoo is promising to exhaust every appeal avenue afforded to them, which you'd expect given that there's over a third of their cash assets on the line. Adding to the mystery of the case is the fact that not only are court documents unavailable, but virtually nobody is commenting on the matter either.
J. P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth was similarly stumped. A research note he issued Monday focused on the ruling, around which he said there is "little clarity." It's unclear how the court came to the $2.7 billion figure for the judgment, but Anmuth said it "appears high based on the seemingly small size of Yahoo's business in Mexico."
The lawsuit was brought by Worldwide Directories S.A. de C.V. and Ideas Interactivas S.A. de C.V. against Yahoo and Yahoo de Mexico, Yahoo said.
The companies could not be reached for comment, although Carlos Bazan-Canabal, who describes himself as a founder of Worldwide Directories, told Reuters via email that he had contracted a U.S.-based law firm to handle the Yahoo case. He declined to comment further on the matter.For what it's worth, investors don't seem to think that the massive judgment is worth selling of Yahoo shares, as of yesterday, but with so few details it's hard to know what's going on. One thing is for certain, however: if judgments like these are validated, it would be a bright signal to tech companies throughout the world to avoid doing business in Mexico.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: judgments, mexico, mystery, yellow pages
Companies: yahoo
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Apparently countries of this world will start using the legal system as a new business model.
Isn't IP law and commercial third party liability marvelous?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
2 billion?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: 2 billion?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: 2 billion?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: 2 billion?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
We expect for other countries to bend to our will, e.g. Apple vs Samsung, but now the shoe's on the other foot. After all, how many free handouts have our own content industries received on account of copyright/patent litigation, extortion schemes, et al? They're simply copying our legal (mis)behavior.
The ITU is prepared to redistribute wealth from tech industries over to the telcos. The German government is enforcing GEMA's redistribution of wealth program against club/bar owners. Content industries are ready to redistribute wealth from Canadian citizens to their own pockets.
The point being, any system, legal or otherwise, which enables abuse will inevitably be abused.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
One wonders if in the next generation or two there will be a groundswell in new thought on copyright and IP, similar to the Protestant Reformation or the Enlightenment.
The alternative, should the Maximalists win, will result in a new Dark Age for the internet and by consequence the whole world...
I count the internet as the fifth greatest creation of mankind. Copyright Maximalists count it as a nuisance. The Maximalists are in the end IMHO the enemy of mankind.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Corporate Jammie Thomas
Well actually no - because they have only been asked to stump up 36% of their assets - as opposed to 360% of their lifetime earnings...
Yahoo - you got off lightly.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dollars to Pesos
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hm..
They must be very important companies.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hm..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
maybe it's in pesos
1 mexican peso is about 8 cents.
so 2 billion would be just over 150 million...
still not sure what the lawsuit is over, but that's much more affordable.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: maybe it's in pesos
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mexican yellow pages
http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-worldwide-directories-mexico-appeal-2012-12
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Or...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]