Microsoft makes a $50bn takeover bid for Yahoo. This move would see the addition of Microsoft engineering capability into Yahoo’s offering allowing the combined entity to bring new products and services to market very quickly…. but will this be able compete with the dominance of google?
Needless to say Google are not the biggest fans of this merger - They see the merger as dangerous and a threat to the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation. It’s worth having a read of their blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/yahoo-and-future-of-internet.html
So … will Google finally have a serious online competitor or is this simply a desperate move from Microsoft to improve its presence in the search and advertising market. One thing is for sure - If the deal goes through, Microsoft will absorb a well-known brand as well as many tens of millions of users in one fell swoop.
In terms of Anti-Competitive laws - interestingly it seems the merger will most likely be approved by the US. Justice Department as the merged company would still be dwarfed by the Google giant.
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On a local front:
The deal will however have it’s problems and need to be handled very carefully.
In Australia there is going to be serious issues with the TV Networks. Microsoft’s parter is Channel 9 (NineMSN.com.au) and Yahoo is heavily aligned with Channel 7 (Yahoo7.com.au).
The two media outlets are direct competitors and the Yahoo7 partnership is very strong with the site being one of the most popular in Australia so It will be very interesting to see how this pans out. Will one of the networks be dropped and if so which one?
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In our opinion it will be extremely hard to integrate two incredibly large & complex companies so the brands will most likely stay separate in the near future.
We will be keeping a keen eye on the developments of this merger.
Tags: Email, Google, Internet, Microsoft, Search Engines, Yahoo