Mr. & Mrs. Microsoft-Yahoo. $44.6B Bid Down for Yahoo by Microsoft
You’ve probably heard by now that Microsoft has something like a $44.6B down to acquire Yahoo! If you haven’t well, either it doesn’t affect you or you’ve been away on vacation for a week or two in a place with no newspapers or TV.
Much of the buzz I’ve been seeing come across my desk is the impact this will have on the Search Industry. If Yahoo is acquired by Microsoft then instead of having 1 Giant search engine with 3 smaller ones, we’re now going to have 1 Search Giant, a slightly smaller but heavy-hitting contender, and an even smaller contestant who may not be able to compete against it’s two larger competitors ultimately leaving the two to war it out with each other. Second, what will happen to the paid search listings? With Microsoft’s growing Adcenter offering married to Yahoo’s search partners and their Yahoo Search Marketing paid solution, Google may now have a very worthy adversary in the Paid Search arena.
It should be interesting to see what happens from this point on. We may be a little ways away from the deal actually going through because it has to be scrutinized by the powers-that-be to make sure that the deal would remain within the spirit of competition. Barring that however, I’m anxious and a little frightened at the same time to see what will happen to the search industry when two become one.
On a side note…what would they name it? It’s like a marriage where both the bride and groom have very prominent names. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Microsoft-Yahoo. [Cue Cheesy Wedding Music]
Mike out.
