Whether you fancy vanilla stocks or the rocky road ripples of high-growth dot-coms, has Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) got a scoop for you. To celebrate the popular portal's tenth birthday, it is presenting all visitors to its site today with a printable coupon for a small ice cream cup or cone at your local Baskin-Robbins.
If free treats at Baskin-Robbins sound familiar, it's probably because the Allied Domecq (NYSE:AED) subsidiary tends to set aside a day in late April or early May to dole out freebies. You won't need to tax your computer printer for that particular giveaway, but I'll promise to look the other way if you do our Living Below Your Means community proud and take the ice cream chain up on both promos.
Still, what's the point, Yahoo!? I'm not one to look a gift pistachio in the mouth, but why the free ice cream? Watch Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) go all Oprah on you and give away Pontiac G6 sedans when it turns 10 just to show you up.
But let's put this into proper perspective. Yahoo! has been around for just 10 years, yet it has grown to the point of commanding a $45 billion market cap, with 345 million unique users worldwide. This past year the company generated $844 million in free cash flow.
My son recently turned 11, and his claims to fame are blazing through Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Halo 2 and having ridden more than 100 different roller coasters. OK, he also recently scored well enough to be admitted into the same school that produced Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) legend Roberto Goizueta, but, as much as I love him, he's no Yahoo!
Yahoo! is also ringing the Nasdaq opening bell today. What? You didn't know the secondary market even had an opening bell worth ringing? Join the club.
But getting back to Yahoo! giving its visitors a frozen treat -- and, yes, those coupons must be used today so procrastinators better synchronize their watches -- it's not a completely selfless act. Sure, folks will come over to the site and print out the coupons. However, Yahoo! will also get to show off its mapping feature to get its users to the nearest scoop shop. Then again, with Google's new roadmap feature blowing Yahoo! away on that front, maybe Yahoo! hopes you're too preoccupied with choosing between chocolate chip and strawberry to notice.
Because, sure, Yahoo! is pretty cool and all, but as my son will be glad to point out, it's never ridden a coaster and it can't wrap its virtual fingers around the grip of an Xbox controller.
While you're eating your ice cream, treat yourself to these other great articles:
- 2004 was a great year for Yahoo! as earnings doubled.
- Yes, Oprah did give away a ton of cars last year.
- Learn how to live well, yet thrifty in our Living Below Your Means discussion board.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz still doesn't know if he will take Yahoo! up on its offer for the free ice cream cone. It would really mess up his tax-planning strategy. He does not own shares in any of the stocks mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
