Insiders' Blog

Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) moved into negative territory today after getting an early boost on reports it might be in discussions to acquire social media sharing site Tumblr.

But, Yahoo! might not be the only one with its eyes on the prize. Forbes noted this afternoon that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) might also be looking to acquire the company.

Will it affect Yahoo!'s plans? Evidently not, because Tumblr and Yahoo! are in negotiations under a lockup agreement. Even if Microsoft or Facebook came in over the top, it wouldn't matter.

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is planning to rush this thing through and might make a bid upon board approval. Given investor sentiment and recent results behind the (relatively) new CEO, this shouldn't be a problem. Forbes noted that she's also in favor of an outright purchase over partnership or large investment.

Asking price on Tumblr is said to be about $1 billion.

Yahoo! is down about 0.1 percent.

Amarin (Nasdaq: AMRN) is rebounding following an earlier dip on news that its Vascepa wasn't in the FDA Orange Book for April.

To go to the FDA's Orange Book website, click here.

Shares are down 0.5 percent Friday.

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) is up on the session following earlier commentary that the company might be a potential takeover target.

Earnings for Kansas City Southern are expected to rise 48 percent over the next four years, being fueled by its operations in Mexico and burgeoning U.S. oil production.

One Stephens analyst said an acquisition would be a no-brainer in the industry as Kansas City Southern has solid cross-border operations and strong network in the States. Potential suitors might include Berkshire's (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B) BNSF, Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI), Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), and Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP).

Bloomberg reports today that Kansas City Southern is the fifth-largest railroad operator in the U.S. and drew nearly half its 2012 revs from Mexico, a country which is expected to post GDP of 3.5 percent in 2013, versus 2.1 percent for the U.S. The company operates about 3,100 miles in Mexico.

On Thursday,Kansas City Southern was also picked to replace Dean Foods (NYSE: DF) in the S&P 500, bringing more confidence for investors.

While both Canadian railroad operators have networks that extend and connect to Kansas City Southern's. Of the two Canadian operators, Canadian National is able to take on more debt to finance a deal given its A- credit rating. Canadian Pacific is at BBB-.

BNSF might be possible given that Berkshire, run by Warren Buffett, doesn't think on a short-term basis. However, it and Union Pacific might have antitrust hurdles to overcome.

Shares of Kansas City Southern are up 0.7 percent, but rose as much as 1.8 percent earlier. It currently sports a market cap around $12.9 billion.

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is off on the session as its main rival is set to become a little more fierce.

According to Samsung Electronics co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun, sales of the Galax S IV (S4) are on pace to handily smash at least one sales record put up by its predecessor. Jong-kyun said the S4 will break the 10 million smartphone milestone by the end of May. Sales of the device began on April 26 - 27, meaning it would happen in roughly one month. By comparison, the S3 took about 50 days to reach the same mark.

The S4 utilizes Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system.

It's not clear about the exact numbers, but recent reports have Samsung's Galaxy S-series selling over 100 million units since inception. Apple regularly sells about 30 to 45 million iPhones a quarter (give or take a few million units), so sales with the S3 and S4 are about flat. Whether or not Apple will be able to woo over customers with the next iteration of its iPhone and/or be able to meet demand given technical issues faced by panel makers is another question.

Shares of Apple are down 0.6 percent Friday morning.

Shares of BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) are in positive territory as expected news finally came to fruition.

This morning, Bloomberg headlines crossed that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) mobile devices were approved for use by the U.S. military. The U.S. Department of Defense specifically cleared use of Apple devices running iOS 6, which includes iPhones and iPads.

BlackBerry will now be competing with Samsung and Apple for lucrative military contracts. Earlier in the week, BlackBerry held its Live 2013 event in which it introduced a slew of new features, updates, and products. One key item was BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10), which allows for companies to disallow saving personal information on a device for extra security.

BlackBerry is up 0.6 percent.