Wall Street Journal: Microsoft and Yahoo! to Be ‘BFF’?
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Written By Reprise Media | May 3, 2006 | Share This
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It’s the kind of speculation that fires the search world’s imagination: could Microsoft and Yahoo! combine forces, complementing each others’ strengths in an effort to give Google fits? A Wall Street Journal column doesn’t think it’s such a crazy idea, reporting that a “faction” within Microsoft has been pushing such a move over the past year, with the two companies holding informal discussions.
Now, WSJ says the talks “don’t appear to be active.” And Microsoft has recently been going full speed ahead in its plans to push Windows Live as its premier search and internet product, which seems to speak more to Microsoft’s do-it-yourself ethos. Still, WSJ opines that Microsoft’s technology, on which they’ve spent “untold hundreds of millions of dollars,” would make a good fit with Yahoo!’s substantial, 100 million-plus monthly site traffic. All they’d supposedly need at that point is a strong ad network, and presto! Instant Google.
Or, you know, not quite. Danny Sullivan, for one, has a slightly different take. He doesn’t agree that Microsoft’s gajillions have been wisely spent, technology-wise, and holds a dim view of Windows Live (to put it delicately). He sees in Yahoo instead “plenty of traffic, along with core search technology and a healthy, first-hand advertiser base,” and posits that a Yahoo/Microsoft alliance checks out better than the last winter’s proposed (and failed) MSN/AOL hook-up.
Obstacles? Plenty, starting with the fact that the Microsoft faction in question doesn’t appear to be calling the shots right now. Add in the likely reluctance of Yahoo’s execs to sell out, and…well, let’s just say this isn’t going to happen tomorrow. Loren Baker chimes in with a sober tack, saying, “there is a reason why Yahoo has been acquiring so many tech companies and expanding their search powered network - and I doubt becoming a Microsoft acquisition target is a major one of those reasons.”
Topics: Investment, M&A |