| Friday, May 16, 2008 |
| The End Game |
With Microsoft having withdrawn its bid for Yahoo, Carl Ichan was quick to step in and try to place his own controlling board in charge of Yahoo at the next annual shareholders meeting.
Well, I am one to think that no matter what happens, most of the folks have not thought of the end game scenario. Microsoft certainly didn't think of the end game when Yahoo rebuffed Steve Ballmer's attempt to acquire Yahoo. After saying essentially that nothing was going to stop Microsoft from acquiring Yahoo, that is in effect what happened (at least for the time being).
With the dog's on it's tail, Yahoo, with the help of Google, a long time acquaintance and friend are ready to work out a new advertising arrangement.
To understand the history of Google and Yahoo's association we need to go back in time, to the early years of Google.
Google Corporate History
1998 Among those they called on was friend and Yahoo! founder David Filo. Filo agreed that their technology was solid, but encouraged Larry and Sergey to grow the service themselves by starting a search engine company. "When it's fully developed and scalable," he told them, "let's talk again." Others were less interested in Google, as it was now known. One portal CEO told them, "As long as we're 80 percent as good as our competitors, that's good enough. Our users don't really care about search."
2000 On June 26, Google and Yahoo! announced a partnership that solidified the company's reputation — not just as a provider of great technology, but as a substantial business answering 18 million user queries every day.
As a side note, I wonder who the quote is from above, "As long as we're 80 percent as good as our competitors, that's good enough. Our users don't really care about search." I guess we will just have to guess who the identity is for now. Read marketing strategies for your business.
So, as we can see, Google and Yahoo were close partners to begin with. Now, it is quite possible that Yahoo is coming back to the fold.
If you think about it, Steve Ballmer may have done both Google and Yahoo a favor by forcing the talks to happen between the two. From Microsoft's point of view, this could have been a big mistake ever coming to the Yahoo table in the first place and then walking away. If you are going to play out a multi-billion dollar gambit, and placing the majority of your spare billions of dollars into a deal, you better have the end game figured out. Is it possible that as the saying goes, pride comes before the fall? ??
Time will tell.
By-the-way, no sooner did I get this posted, I read online that now Microsoft is trying for a piece of the partial action for Yahoo in the form of an advertising revenue sharing arrangement, agreement, purchase, or who knows what. Wow, what a wild wild web we weave!
By JimLabels: Business, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo
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posted by Jim Warholic @ 1:49:00 PM   |
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| Tuesday, February 5, 2008 |
| Microsoft + Yahoo 1 + 1 = What? |
By: Jim Warholic
 OK folks, with the proposed buyout of Yahoo! by Microsoft, everyone is trying to dissect what would be the consequences of such a buyout.
Well, I'm no expert, but many experts have many different opinions about how this would affect the search and online advertising landscape, so I'm going to add my two cents worth of opinion.
In my opinion I don't think it will change the landscape that much for Google. In the short and long run, this might actually be good for Google and its users because they will have stayed the course.
There are so many things between Yahoo! and Microsoft that are redundant that I can't imagine there not being major layoffs, hence the term "cost savings." Microsoft can pick and choose which items they want to keep and which ones they would put on the back burner so-to-speak. The absorption of technology by Microsoft from the Yahoo! acquisition would take time to decide which technology is ultimately going to be used for online advertising delivery and other technology services. Even if they were to integrate two different advertising platforms, it still comes down to a major degree of difficulty combining the two.
Then there is the whole cultural challenges facing Microsoft. Yahoo! employees have looked at Microsoft as the other team. Microsoft arrived on the search scene and the online advertising scene late. They have invested billions of dollars on trying to catch up to Google, and have not made much of a dent. But, the online world is quite different than the typical challenges with increasing market share. The buyout does not represent anything new for Microsoft. So where is there really going to be an increase in market share. As long as Google delivers great values for their users, it is highly unlikely that Google users would jump ship and move over to a combined Microsoft Yahoo! company.
Then, think about the brand. Will it be Microhoo or Yahoosoft? Seriously folks, how will the brands be integrated? Will it be MSN Search, Live Search, Yahoo! Search, or what? Will Microsoft keep all the brands, and will that ultimately help their market share? Interesting and fascinating all rolled into one. Sounds like a great topic of discussion for a college course.
If Microsoft wants to do it, let them do it.
Just like in sports, where there is free agency, and teams think there is value in one player over another, and are willing to pay whatever top dollar they think is appropriate, another team can come in and say they are willing to pay more for that player. Well, this Microsoft Yahoo! deal is much the same. Google has offered some things that could ultimately be better for Yahoo!, such as providing the search engine for Yahoo!. Interesting times we live in. I guess the shareholders will ultimately decide.
For help with your online marketing and advertising needs contact Professional Web Services today for professional internet marketing services.Labels: Business, Microsoft, Yahoo
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| posted by Jim Warholic @ 10:38:00 AM |
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