Microhoo?- Microsoft makes bid for Yahoo
Ξ February 1st, 2008 | → | ∇ Technology |
In what has been called a possible “shotgun marriage”, Microsoft has made a $44.6 billion dollar offer to Yahoo.
Microsoft has always been behind in the Internet arena due, primarily, to an earlier misplaced belief by Bill Gates that the Internet was a “fad”.
While some may tout Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as a contradiction to this, claiming it to be “the most popular browser”, in reality, it is really just the “most used”, due to it’s being bundled with the Windows operating system. Microsoft has never made a serious dent against the likes of Yahoo and Google.
Yahoo has been under a financial strain for quite a while and Microsoft is well aware of this, having made a bid for Yahoo last year. The bid was rejected by then Chairman Terry Semel. Semel has since been replaced by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
The timing of the new Microsoft offers not only ties in conveniently with a management change and re-structuring within Yahoo, but also with an election within the US, a time which is notorious for lacking oversights into much of anything.
If the deal can get done by mid-2008, which is Microsoft’s hope, the political maneuvering which accompanies elections will pretty much guarantee that no one in the US would take a serious look into the merger until too late.
This possibility is disturbing and maybe even terrifying if the full implications are considered.
A successful takeover, which Microsoft is determined to see even if it becomes “hostile”, would mean we have two megaliths controlling not only the search arena, but also email, instant messaging, and, potentially, the emerging mobile market.
Yahoo also has ties into variety of other services: web hosting, domain services, ISP services, e-commerce, and others.
If past performance is any indicator, Microsoft gaining a foothold here could mean a massive move to the normal Microsoft “propriety” mode of operation for Yahoo, including enormous pressure on ISP partnerships to restructure so that only Microsoft-based platforms are supported.
While many would just say “Hell No!” and leave, for others, such as those who have invested a lot of time and money into paid yahoo services such web-hosting, paid advertising and yahoo stores, a move could place a financial burden which precluded leaving.
Most of this sounds like an extreme, but in reality, it would take very little to make it happen.
“Microhoo” would have the infrastructure, customer base, and financial backing plus a huge amount of R & D resources.
Microsoft is becoming aware that it might not have the stranglehold hold on the PC market like it once did following disastrous release fiascoes.
Vista is a flop and, with support for XP scheduled to be discontinued, people are looking elsewhere.
Microsoft needs a new “cash cow” and Yahoo may be just the bum steer they are looking for.
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