Hi Everyone. This is Take Off. We're like a hidden Easter egg in your favorite video game - surprising, delightful, and adding an extra layer of fun to your tech news consumption.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• Yahoo’s Renaissance 🌼

• PC Markets - From Peaks to Pits 💻

• Asteroids ☄️

• Trending Tools ⚒️

Yahoo’s Renaissance 🌼

Remember Yahoo? Yeah, that same ‘90s giant most have forgotten about.

After a very tumultuous life, the company is undergoing an era of renaissance.

The company was more or less dead when it was sold to the PE firm, Apollo Global Management by Verizon in 2021, under whom it is reinventing itself.

A Life of Adventure

Yahoo for sure has had one of the most thrilling and adventurous trajectories with a bad ending unfortunately.

The company was the Google of the world before Google actually took over and was valued at a whopping $125 billion at the peak of the dotcom bubble.

However, a series of bad decisions ultimately led to the demise of its greatness and the company was eventually sold to Verizon for $4.5 billion, making it a mere shadow of its former glory.

Rebirth of the Digital Dino

After Verizon had failed to make anything out of the company, they sold Yahoo and AOL to Apollo for a combined $5 billion.

Yahoo is considered by most people to be a digital dinosaur but under Apollo, it seems like the company is thriving.

Yahoo recently acquired the newsletter StrictlyVC for its news site, TechCrunch.

Yes, TechCrunch is owned by Yahoo! Even we didn’t know that.

This marks the company’s fourth acquisition this year. Here’s a quick look at their acquisitions.

1. They acquired the social investing platform CommonStock to make Yahoo Finance a premiere destination for retail investors.

2. It purchased Wagr to bring gaming opportunities to Yahoo Sports.

3. Last year, it bought Factual to add news credibility ratings to news content.

Also, despite all the digital dinosaur memes on Yahoo, you have to remember that Yahoo still prints money. And a lot of it.

Reports indicate that the company generated $8 billion with significant profit margins. Its legacy business such as AOL still makes millions of dollars of cash flow every year.

What’s your take on this? Do you think Yahoo can turn around and become a sexy modern tech company again?

PC Markets - From Peaks to Pits 💻

In the “What a time to be alive!” year of 2021, we saw over 340 million PCs shipped worldwide.

Why? Our BFF, the pandemic. Home offices were popping up everywhere like Starbucks on street corners.

But, oh, how the mighty have fallen! Shipments took a nosedive in 2022, and 2023 looks to be sipping the same sad tea.

Thanks to a mix of the world trying to be “normal” again, and our nemesis, the semiconductor shortage, PC love dwindled.

HP had a little stumble, with their shares taking a hit. The CEO, Enrique Lores, blames an uncertain economy, inflation, and – get this – a 19% drop in shipments to China!

Best Buy’s PC and mobile sales slid by 6.4%. Apple, too, showed a 7.3% slip in Mac sales.

When it rains, it pours, huh?

However, there's a silver lining! Our friends at IDC predict a 2024 rebound – not a slam dunk, but a 3.7% growth, totaling around 261.4 million units.

Basically, we’re taking the DeLorean back to 2019 shipment numbers. They say the PC party will be powered by AI and the unyielding love for remote work.

When’s the last time you bought your latest laptop/PC? Let us know by replying.

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Arm is eyeing a massive IPO, aiming to raise up to $4.87 billion! With big names like Apple and Google as investors, they could be valued up to $54 billion. 🔧💸

Airbnb's stock soared 7.7% as it's joining the S&P 500! With a 67% surge this year and robust travel demand, things are looking up for the company. 🏠✈️

BMW faced backlash for charging a subscription for heated seats, but they're now pivoting to on-demand software services like driving aid. Automakers like Tesla are also exploring similar avenues. 📲🚗

⚒️ Trending Tools ⚒️

🐛 Anecdote - Instantly identify bugs in your customer feedback

🪙 Blockbank - The first global neo-banking super app

🥑 Avocado Finance - Smartest Way to Manage Your Finances

💁 HelpKit AI - Revolutionize Your Customer Support

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