As we mentioned few days ago,
http://irthoughts.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/microsofts-black-cloud-on-yahoos-seo-tag-clouds/ ,
Microsoft is finally buying Yahoo! Check here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120186786283735047.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
As Jeremy Sawodny, I predict many old folks will walk rather than working for Bill Gates while duplicated positions will be eliminated. With already thousand being terminated at Yahoo!, more will soon follow.
The Final Search Battle is coming and its name is SEARCHMAGEDDON.
“And I saw from the mouth of the operating system, and the mouth of the database and the mouth of the paid advertisers, three unclean spirits… the spirits of marketers, spammers, and hackers working signs, and they go forth to the kings of the whole network, to gather them to battle against the great day of the Almighty GoOGLE. And Stanford shall gather them together into a place which in digital business is called SEARCHMAGEDDON.” –Internet 2:1, 2008.
February 1, 2008 at 11:14 am |
The use of present continuous (i.e. ‘is buying’) is misleading. Microsoft just made its offer, and the outcome is still unknown.
February 1, 2008 at 11:29 am |
This is so wrong! We already know that Microsoft fails time and again when acquiring new services or companies. I’m not against them but everyone must admit it it’s true. What can we expect now, their failed Live Search technology mixed with Yahoo’s SE? Yahoo.2? Or even worse, the release of new search engine technology or algorithm… that needs a patch three months after release. Certainly hackers will find great opportunities to make Microsoft online life miserable.
February 1, 2008 at 12:02 pm |
Hi, mcpr:
Thank you for stopping by.
You have some good points I have to agree with. Live Search technology did not take off or at least it did not convince many to drop Google for Live.
Yahoo “as is” has beat to the punch Live in the marketing and relevancy area. Google seems better than Yahoo in the marketing aspect, but at times Yahoo gives better relevant results.
The title of my post states “Microsoft to buy Yahoo!”; i.e. not yet a done deal.
Will this generate a bidding contest between Microsoft and Google? Besides advertiser share and a hand on dozen of patents and strategic alliances, I don’t see any killing technology benefit for Google to acquire Yahoo.
I do see those benefits if Bill finally buys Yang’s house. We will soon find out. The development is really interesting. What exciting days we are living in!
February 1, 2008 at 12:41 pm |
Hi, tomasz44:
Thank you for your input. I didn’t see your post before answering to mcpr.
I agree. I thought that was clear from the title of the post, original article, and my response to mcpr.
“Microsoft is buying” might appear misleading to outsiders unfamiliar with the Microsoft-Yahoo! saga, but not to those that have been following the development of the soap opera. I don’t think that they will make an offer just to see others beating them on this as well.
February 1, 2008 at 1:14 pm |
>> I don’t think that they will make an offer just to see others beating them on this as well.
The question is not whether someone else (e.g. G.) might beat M. on this deal, but whether Y is for sale.
>> I do see those benefits if Bill finally buys Yang’s house.
Try as I might, I cannot see any.
>> We will soon find out. The development is really interesting.
That’s all we can do at the moment.
February 1, 2008 at 1:54 pm |
I agree.
February 1, 2008 at 2:35 pm |
Danny over at searchengineland has a live blog. Note what the actual players are apparent and allegedly saying.
http://searchengineland.com/080201-083640.php
Pros, benefits, and what the players gain vs. cons, disadvantages, and what players lose are more clear.
February 1, 2008 at 5:26 pm |
Antitrust experts think the deal will ultimately likely be approved:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080201/wr_nm/microsoft_dc_13
Morgan Stanley and Blackstone are advising Microsoft and Goldman Sachs coaching Yahoo!
February 2, 2008 at 6:59 am |
They should have bought Google instead!
February 2, 2008 at 9:04 am |
Thanks, jvpagan, for stopping by.
Well, that was a possibility back in the late ’90s, when the two kids from Stanford were showcasing PageRank to the back-then big search engines. Now I believe is too late for that. With GOOG shares way over the 500 mark, I’m not sure Microsoft can buy or Google wants to sell.
August 12, 2008 at 8:35 am |
Update to this soap opera:
Yang conceived a poisson pill that forced Microsoft to abandon the buying of Yahoo! The company lost shares, top executives, and got sued by angry shareholders. Yahoo! is now a revenue share slave of Google.
With the Trojan Horse (Carl Icahn) already inside the board, anything can develop within the next 12 months.
August 1, 2009 at 8:25 am |
Well, a lot of things happened.
1. Yahoo rejected Microsoft proposal to be acquired.
2. Many departured from Yahoo!
3. Yang was forced to leave his post at Yahoo!
4. More departures at Yahoo!
5. Microsoft was “no longer interested” in Yahoo!
6. More brains leaving Yahoo!
7. Finally Microsoft adquired only the search side of Yahoo!
It was a matter of time. I told you so.
I don’t think this will end here. Although not limited to “Microhoo”, but there is still room for additional consolidation of services gravitating around search as a user activity. There are still plenty of search companies to buy or kill from the inside out.
It is a matter of time.