Microsoft-Yahoo deal will never happen – MarketWatch — Here is a link to my Marketwatch column this week. If people think this deal is going to get past the EU regulators, they have not been paying attention.
The EU must have a red alert horn sounding in Brussels now that this deal was announced.
If the EU is already throwing a wet blanket on Microsoft’s party and, according to reports, plans more actions against the company regarding its browser strategy, then this merger will stop them in their tracks.
Heck, the directorate general for competition in the EU, Neelie Kroes, said she was going after the company in a recent BBC interview. She flatly said that the U.S. anti-trust folks are doing nothing about anything, so the EU has to step in.Now it’s always possible with Microsoft that this Yahoo deal was never meant to be finalized. This happened with the Microsoft attempt to buy Intuit some years back. It may be a ploy to steal Yahoo technology or key employees. It may be just to give the EU commissioners something big to chew on.
(You should note that with the Intuit deal Microsoft was never told not to do the deal. Once an investigation began, the company bailed out on its own. Why take a chance when you really do not want to do the deal in the first place? This model may be at work here.)
That said, this is a merger of two of the most popular Web destinations and search sites in the world as well as being dominant players in free email, search, groups and content delivery. How is this NOT an anti-trust violation in someone’s eyes?
I think you are wrong, and you are wrong because dispite the anti-competitive behaviour in other sections of the Microsoft business the EU commision can not ignore the fact that Google has no real competitor.
In the face of this how can they stop the only chance of one being produced in the form of a merge of Microsoft and Yahoo’s online businesses, which at this point is the probably the only way you are going to get something that will even get close to even half matching Google’s control.
Just when MS starts to show some promise with solid stuff like .NET 3.x they pull off this idiocy. I have no idea if it’ll get past the regulators but the Yahoo shareholders would go for it.
I would bet Google will pull a fast one and publicly say that this is good for the industry to help with the regulatory bodies. Then Sergei can pull out out his to-do list and check off the “Crush Microsoft” item.
New York Times has an article on the merger indicating this may be a desperate attempt on Microsofts side to stay relevant on the online business side.
“Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo is thus a tacit, and difficult, admission that the company did not get its online business right. The bid also represents a sharp departure from Microsoft’s well-thumbed playbook of building new businesses on its own.”
MicroHoo? More thrashing and grasping after the latest abysmal windows release.
Why innovate when you can asimulate?
I don’t really see how consumers benefit by Yahoo exsisting. I mean as long as their is a choice in search between Google and not google I think less is better. There’s no reason to have dozens of Instant messanger clients and free mail sites and all these things, consolidation provided there is still some competition is for the best.
Well I know that Google folks are almost having a party now. This would be a blast for them. MicroSoft will destroy Yahoo and clear the way for “world domination”…
I just want to point out that Microsofts SMB accounting package is MUCH MUCH nicer than the intuits SMB products, and I haven’t seen any market research on it, but I am starting to see Microsofts accounting package all over the place, while at the same time Quickbooks seems to be fading.
So I am guessing, Microsoft already has a plan with regards to what they want to do with the Yahoo brand, it will just take them longer to accomplish it on their own…
Also live search already has more useful results than google and anyone who is relying on Google now days for searches is only getting a partial picture.
On the otherhand, I do love my gmail. I have to wonder why Microsoft has been unable (unwilling?) to make a web enabled email client (as opposed to group ware) as nice as Gmail.
Here is a preview of the new MicroHoo web site:
http://www.44billionlater.com/
Having studied EU competition laws in uni I know that we are talking a judgement that prevents mergers from being done if we see dominance of something like 70-80%. I don’t think EU will say anything. Google is dominating in many fields, and EU won’t say no to _more_ competition.
But I must say I agree on the basic concept you provided us with before: I don’t think this is a 1+1=3 kind of deal. I mean Microsoft has lots of engineers sitting around, professors and stuff – why wouldn’t they be capable of doing it before? I think it’s a question of lack of the kind of entreprenurship and leadership that is needed to meet new needs…
Do the math:
1 turkey + 1 turkey = 2 turkeys.
NOT
1 turkey + 1 turkey = 1 eagle.
If Microshaft buys yahoo, I’m moving all my information to ask.com I want none of this.
Hooray for the little guy.
Microsoft reminds me of IBM in the late 1980s or Ford in the late 1990s.
They are making a ton of money but their future is becoming murkier and it is really not hard to foresee some sort of change that could tank their entire business model [which is a copy of Windows with every computer sold] in the next 10 years.
I stand corrected.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/yahoo-and-future-of-internet.html
So, where will John buy a tasty crow to eat??