Microsoft Ready to Go Hostile
By Brandon Dawson on Feb 20, 2008 in Internet
Yahoo! is in for literally the fight of its life. [link]
Chairman Bill’s minions are readying the financial trebuchets, and are indicating that they’re willing to undertake a hostile takeover bid for Yahoo! if Yang ‘n’ the Gang don’t accept their terms, the value of which have declined by $1.4 billion since the offer was initially made.
Personally, I’m torn over how to feel about the entire idea of MicroHoo.
On one hand, Microsoft has continually been humbled by Google, which has now begun to assume to role of 800-lb gorilla, just as MS did to IBM. IBM is still a big company, still a powerful company, but not the all-encompassing behemoth it once was. And adding Yahoo’s content, and resurgent search prowess, would be just the right antidote to their failing search and content plays.
On the other hand, it is somewhat wrenching to watch Yahoo’s fall just as it is beginning to develop a truly compelling search alternative to Google, and if Microsoft could revive Live Search as something other than a totally spam-ridden piece of garbage, the resultant competition would be healthy for the entire internet industry, and all three companies involved as well.
It’ll be interesting indeed to watch it all play out.
