It's looking more like MicroHoo is going to happen, sooner or later and there's a post about it in Is Microhoo a Done Deal? More or less, Yes. It's not a question of weather it will happen or not, but of how much will Yahoo get and when it will agree to be acquired, according to Search Engine Land:
"…As distasteful as it might be for proud Yahooers to make plans for the future Microhoo, from their SEC filing we now get early indications that they’re preparing to negotiate, not fight. For the good of both companies, consumers, and business partners, it would be quite a feat if Yahoo! could secure some real commitments to preserving the best elements of the Yahoo! brand, and to planning the future intelligently rather than gutting the company for its perceived assets. Handshake guarantees typically carry little weight post-merger, so goodwill would have to be combined with a serious Yahoo! presence on the board of directors, and long-term contracts for key Yahooers in positions central to the growth of the new company."
I still say, the main reason for this acquisition is to extend Microsoft's real estate to advertise and target on - and that's what I always thought - and, the merger is not about Search - because a Microhoo can't catchup with Google and should not bother:
"…Currently, AdCenter matching technologies are pure and they don’t employ any type of stemming or broad matching technologies. In fact, in several verticals, we see higher conversions from AdCenter than we do in Google and Yahoo!. The next major hurdle is to increase traffic which they hope to do with the Yahoo! acquisition."
Shakespeare wrote the famous lines "To be or Not to Be - that is the Question" for Hamlet but it could just as well apply to MicroHoo if it ends up The Soul of Microsoft merged with Yahoo’s body and what would that body look like?
Well, Gary Angel reasoned it out and came up with some interesting observations in a post titled The Soul of an Old Machine which says that Microsoft had a innovative streak of it's own in that it improved products and wrote a lot of great software but has lost it's way on the Internet.
And maybe, in a strange way, the acquisition of Yahoo, if it's done right, if it happens at all (see Microsoft Yahoo Scenarios - Henry Blodget) gives Microsoft the chance to kill 2 or 3 birds with one stone.
- Beat Google by providing a superior content network (thereby humbling Google, for once).
- Resurrect Search, improve it - make a Search Product that is actually better than anything Google or anyone else has now.
- Decide Yahoo's fate - Yahoo has been sorta hanging in limbo for a few years - maybe it started, in my opinion, with the acquisition of Overture about 5 years ago - but that's just my opinion.
Both Microsoft and Yahoo have essentially lost their way - maybe they can help each other find a path out - and stick it to Google at the same time.
The world would be better if Google were less powerful, checked - they've become too monopolistic - it's not a question of weather they have superior products and expertise - they do in many cases - but more and more, Google is narrowing down our choices so we essentially only end up depending on them.
That's not healthy - we need a viable alternative for Organic, Paid and Advertising - we need a true equal, in every sense of the word - and we don't have one - perhaps, if MicroHoo succeeds, we will.
But then again - it'll be a good year or so before any of this is decided on.
So it looks to me like Henry Blodget has a pretty good idea of what's going to happen with the Microsoft Yahoo merger - Microsoft Yahoo Scenarios - Henry Blodget and cites Citi's Mark Mahaney for the five scenarios for Yahoo's future. His thoughts below:
- YHOO Hits the $31 Bid, 20% probability.
- YHOO Rejects, MSFT Bids Higher, Sale Happens, 40% probability.
- Another Bidder Emerges & Wins, 5% probability.
- Deal Blocked By Regulators, 10% probability.
- Yahoo! Outsources Search to Google. 25% probability.
Which one do you think it'll end up being? Is there another possibility not listed above?
I don't think anyone believes that Microsoft would buy Yahoo for it's Search Engine - both Search Engines aren't that good, but neither is Google's; searchers use Google because it's ingrained in them to do so.
The acquisition is more about online advertising according to HitWise and mentioned in Microsoft and Yahoo!: Putting the Offer in Perspective:
"….If we combine the top properties for the three companies, the combined market share of visits (U.S.) for Microsoft and Yahoo! would be 15.6% of all Internet visits, with Google at 7.7% for the week ending January 26, 2008.
There's just a lot more places to show advertising if Microsoft has Yahoo's properties - meaning a lot more money flowing in - seems like a good deal to me.
But from a Search Perspective, the acquisition would not help Microsoft much
"… But if we consider only search volume, the picture is very different. For the four weeks in January 2008, Google accounted for 65.98% of all executed searches in the U.S., while combining executed searches for Yahoo! Search and MSN Search would amount to 27.84% of executed searches for the same time period.
But that's OK, because this acquisition is not about Search.
I first heard about the Microsoft Yahoo proposed (hostile?) acquisition merger while at lunch Thursday at the Social Networking Conference and didn't have time to write about it. Since then, I thought a bit about it and read and heard more, and decided the merger is a good idea for a couple of reasons.
First of all, Google wants to block it - so it's a good idea that the merger happens - Google Works to Torpedo Microsoft Bid for Yahoo, as written in the New York Times tonight.
"….Publicly, Google came out against the deal, contending in a statement that the pairing, proposed by Microsoft on Friday in the form of a hostile offer, would pose potential threats to competition that need to be examined by policy makers around the world.
Privately, Google went much further. Its chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, placed a call to Yahoo’s chief, Jerry Yang, offering the company’s help in fending off Microsoft, possibly in the form of a partnership between the companies, people briefed on the call said."
Ha! Now, we know the truth, the real Google - Google, having 70% of all search traffic, 70% of all the Search Advertising Revenue, along with soon to be ratified control over DoubleClick - has become totally monopolistic - must be checked, is attempting to going all out to become the only real authority - the only real voice that matters in Search, and will do anything to destroy any other company from interfering.
"…The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising,” Bradford L. Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, said in a statement. “The alternative scenarios only lead to less competition on the Internet.”
Google’s reaction suggests the Internet search giant is preparing to do its best to derail or delay any merger. If so, the strategy would mirror Microsoft’s own actions with respect to Google’s proposed acquisition of the online advertising specialist DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, announced in April."
Look, all the big companies are looking after themselves, we can expect no less - anything that Microsoft did, Google will do, and vice versa. The problem is not what they want, it's what is best for the rest of us.
What's best for us, is not to have one company controlling 70% of everything - it's too much control, and from a company like Google, that is nontransparent. IN other words, for all Google's talk about transparency and honesty - they, themselves, are secretive.
Try getting rid of a Google Penalty - try figuring out what it was that got you penalized, try finding someone to talk to that could explain - try, try and try - you'll find no one - because Google doesnt want to hear from anyone - all they want to do is rule the internet.
Yes, Google does have better technology than anyone else, they are better at a lot of things, but they aren't better at everything, and at this point, their main product, Search, isn't even that good anymore.
The best part of the deal with Microsoft Yahoo - if it goes though - is the gigantic amount of properties and intelligence that Microsoft will gain for AdCenter - and finally, the possibility of an alternative to AdWords and AdSense.
No wonder Google is so afraid for this deal - they rule internet advertising - they dictate the spam laws, even as they created them with their own policies - what Google giveth, it can take away at a moments notice - with no explanation.
For every business Google raised up by sending tons of traffic, it took away from others - weather deserved or not - no company should have so much power - so for that reason alone, I'm for the merger of Microsoft Yahoo.
This rumor about Is Yahoo Being Bought By Microsoft? seem to come up over and over, so I am beginning to believe there's some truth in it; I wrote about it a couple of times last year but now the rumor active, all over again.
"….
Is Microsoft really going to buy Yahoo? Shares of Yahoo climbed 2.9% in pre-market trade, after a report in The New York Post said sources familiar with the situation stated that Microsoft is contemplating if it should go public with an informal bid it made last year to purchase the company, according to Marketwatch.
Blogger Jeremy Zawodney indicated in his blog, about the rumors the first time around, that a takeover could be mutually beneficial stating “Sure, there would be cultural problems, integration challenges, and many people who’d likely walk. But at the end of the day, Microsoft would end up with a much larger set of online services, a better advertising network, and people who know how to build, brand, and market web stuff that people actually use.
Yahoo would suddenly be part of an organization with an even more diversified revenue stream (it’s improved a lot since the Tim Koogle days, of course), very deep pockets, and some serious bargaining power.”
In some really bad attempts to imagine what the new Microsoft + Yahoo merger would be called (it's confirmed by Logic + Emotion, the merger talks between Microsoft and Yahoo are "real" - but that does not mean this will come to anything) some funny or pathetic names or posts are being suggested:
Ok, the news today is that nothing is happening - the talks ended.
Is that Bill
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