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  • Google wins

    yahooLots of stories in the news today about the proposed Yahsoft/Microhoo takeover and even some folks pondering if Google is now in real big trouble. My guess is the folks at Google are cheering today. My take is that Microsoft is admitting defeat by trying to buy there way out of it. Yahoo! has been scuffling of late and has never been a better deal, but is putting two companies together that can’t really figure out how to compete with Google going to make one company that can?

    Why do companies continue to believe that If you put two dogs together you get a pony? ~ Jon Fine, Business Week media columnist

    My fear is that Yahoo! will fight this (heck, Google may help them) and the bid may go up if someone like AT&T jumps in, but no way this deal gets done in under a year. That will likely mean that Yahoo and Microsoft both drift while trying to put this together and Google’s position in both of their businesses gets stronger. I’m not even factoring in the massive amount of effort it would take to actually merge these companies. I’m really surprised how few people in the media took this position.

    Now, having said all that, I don’t know if a stronger Google is really a good thing, but I think this move by Microsoft may actually benefit Google more in the long run.

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    Posted by: John Jantsch on Feb 02, 08 | 2:02 pm
    Category: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo | Tags:

    Comments
    • mike ashworth
      I'm not certain I agree with your view that Microsoft has admitted defeat by this proposal. Often a Company, even a large one such as Microsoft, will consider a strategic purchase, which will give it a position they did not have before, and couldn't not have achieved by conventional methods.

      The good thing about this is that people are aware of Google's dominance and that a new Microsoft (as people are sometimes calling Google) needs to be competed against.

      I feel that the Companies wont drift, as they have experienced Management Teams who would not dare risk the shareholder value on something reckless.

      What I like most about this announcement is that it's got people talking about all three companies, their market positions, their place now, their place in the future. Change is constant so I'm looking forward to seeing how this will pan out

      Mike Ashworth
      Business Coach
      Brighton and Hove, UK
    • "..and couldn't not have achieved by conventional methods"

      That sounds like admitting defeat to me! I guess it depends on what you think of as the contest.

      I think the contest is to be the dominant, most useful platform. Google is taking Desktop Applications, including MS Office functions, and bringing them to the web.

      Microsoft is following them.
    • Microsoft missed a far superior acquisition target: Amazon. Yahoo is just traffic, Amazon is strategic. Moreover, if the transaction triggers further consolidation, and Google buys Amazon, that spells really bad news for Microsoft.

      More on my blog:

      http://smoothspan.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/micr...

      Best,

      BW
    • John,

      I agree with you. There is not such a thing as a strategic merger.

      More often than not they result in mayhem, or arm-length management, and do not deliver the financials, the positioning, and the market share...(eBay/Skype, AOL/TW, etc.)

      Now, although it probably does not apply here, most CEOs have their compensation plans strongly biased towards favorably benefiting from such increase in revenue base... This explains that.

      I guess Google can celebrate, as lots of people are going to be losing focus on the business in the short to medium term!

      jd
      www.jdsavelli.com/blog
    • You're right indeed only Google is reinforced in this attempt to acquire Yahoo!

      Indeed only shareholders have something to win from Micro$oft-Yahoo! merge.

      If M$ is victorious, it will be a bad news for the web & for Yahoo! employees (many of them will be “sacrified” in the name of “eliminating redundant infrastructure and duplicative operating costs”)
      ;o(
    • I don’t know if a stronger Google is really a good thing but I want to create my own SE
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