Microsoft to Buy (Swallow) Yahoo...Again? Please, God, No. The New York Post reports that Microsoft is once again urgently trying to buy Yahoo again, in part because it's sick of losing deals to Google (and, no doubt, sick of losing to Google, and Yahoo, and AOL, et al...). Would it be a smart strategic move for Microsoft and Yahoo to combine forces? Absolutely. Is the best way to do this to have Microsoft suck Yahoo into the massive Windows/Office borg? Absolutely not. If Microsoft buys Yahoo, Microsoft should immediately spin the Yahoo-MSN business out as a separate company. If it doesn't, both Yahoo and MSN will die. With all due respect to the amazing talent and resources at Microsoft, no company can do everything. Microsoft is now so massive and broad that it is competing with IBM and Oracle on one end, and Sony, Apple, Google, and Yahoo on the other. All of these businesses are complex and tough, and focus is a major advantage. In the past 12 years, despite its enormous talent, power, and desktop/browser monopoly, Microsoft has done no better than become an Internet also-ran. Why? In part because of internal politics: In Redmond, the Internet business will always be second-fiddle to the Windows/Office cash machine--especially when the Internet business may increasingly compete with the Windows/Office cash machine. In part because of talent: Why would the best Internet talent want to work in a small division of a massive company, kowtow to Windows/Office kingpins, and get paid in stagnant Microsoft options, when he or she could become a billionaire at the next Google? By the way, Microsoft is not unique or flawed here: It is for these reasons (and others) that few, if any, dominant industry leaders in one technology wave have also dominated the next one. If Microsoft spun out Yahoo-MSN, the company would be able to recruit the best talent, run it's own show, and, if necessary, compete with Microsoft (which it would never be able to do freely as a division--this is the primary reason an outright acquisition would be a disaster). The company could have an exclusive technology deal with Microsoft and get first crack at all partnerships. Most importantly, existing Microsoft and Yahoo shareholders would benefit from all the upside--because they would be the combined company's single largest shareholders. The only folks who would get hosed in such a deal, in fact, would be existing Yahoo shareholders, who would get socked with a cap-gains tax bill. This is why a better plan would be for Microsoft to just swap MSN and a few billion dollars for a major (but not majority) stake in Yahoo. Alas, this sensible solution seems unlikely...because ego will get in the way.
I certainly hope so, I feel Google is too dominant on the Internet scene, some competition is needed.
I'd prefer more of an alliance to happen this one company buying the other. Would anti trust laws even allow for something like this? This would reduce everything to 2 major search engines.
Instead of buying Yahoo and dragging it to death together, why not actually work out the bugs in MSN/Live search and be a competitor first? Being a technology leader and a massive company isn't an excuse for producing buggy softwares!
I don't quite understand why people are so keen to see companies be more successful than google. At the end of the day, the majority of people find google a fantastic, relevant search engine. Simple, and quick to load to. And serioulsy, no one can deny this, it's proven by the fact google is now a household name.
I agree 100% with that - despite it being the horrible truth. These days, search engine = Google. Anyone finding that search engine = Yahoo or Msn are obviously doing their sums wrong. I hate relying on Google for 99% of my traffic - if anything happens with my results, I will be completely screwed. Alex