Microsoft bids for Yahoo!
This is huge news that could change the face of the Internet as we know it. Firstly, Yahoo! Recently posted a 23% loss in Q4 profits. Microsoft, seeing this as the perfect time to step up and take advantage of a troubled company, has put in an unsolicited bid of $44.6 billion for Yahoo!.
Microsoft and Yahoo! have struggled to keep up with Google in recent years. The acquisition of Yahoo! Would be a major shakeup to Google’s dominance. One group of Internet users who are sick to death of Google are the bloggers who have to continually fret about Page Rank, paid links and vague penalties placed on sites, the reasons for which are never fully disclosed.
On its own, its become apparent that there is no way that Yahoo! can keep pace with Google. If Microsoft were to step in and bail Yahoo! out, all that changes.
That's great news and I hope the deal we be settled.
That's probably the only way for a real competiter to Google Adsense/Adwords to emerge.
Have a look to this article from The NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/technology/02google.html?ref=technology
Google as you may know from your own experience like to smartprice its publishers and keep all the profits for them. :(
;-p
Yahoo and Microsoft are two very different business culture. I doubt this cocktail will work. So far Google is the uncontested leader of the search and advert market and by far, even if the deal work, the situation will be akin to IE vs. Firefox with a market half the size for Yahoo/MSN.
What would change something is if people get use to do their search both in Google and Yahoo as they return different results (with the dreaded Wikipedia on top as an exeption, another monopoly that should be challenged). That is very easy with search bar in Firefox (do a search on Nation for example).
~R
Chief Yahoo, Jerry Yang, is reportedly miffed at M$' "corporate culture", including Gates & his bootlicker, Balmer. So much so that Yang praised Apple at his last annual meeting & invited Jobs to give a pep talk at Yahoo head office.
Go easy on Google, what sets Google apart from Micro$oft or Yahoo is Google's ability to make money without being evil. The so called "group of Internet users" is probably the king of bloggers who have made a horrible site and cant rank well for any search engine. Google is the only Search Engine Company which walks the extra mile to connect to the webmasters, listen to their concerns and have a strong presence at all search conferences.
So far the only product by Yahoo which is at #1 in its domain is flickr. I am terrified by the thought of it going to M$.
- Proud owner of a Google T-Shirt : http://www.flickr.com/photos/sajalkayan/2221137392/in/set-72157603798421941/