Will Yahoo Help Microsoft Slay the Google Monster?


250,000+ readers!

Home

Windows Tutorials

Will Yahoo Help Microsoft Slay the Google Monster?
by Ian Paul on 20080207 @ 08:15AM EST | google it | send to friends
Channel: Windows | Infopackets Gazette | (related terms: yahoo microsoft, search, giant)

Microsoft is hoping that its acquisition of Yahoo will help it gain ground on the advertising and search front, and adding Yahoo's 500 million users to its base. But assuming that Jerry Yang and Co. yield to the Redmond giant, will it be enough?

The New York Times recently ran a picture depicting the Microsoft and Google as two large sharks consuming everything in their path: aQuantive, DoubleClick, and MultiMap. Then there are the smaller exclusivity agreements with prominent tech companies such as The Wall Street Journal and Facebook for Microsoft, and Google's deals with MySpace, Fox, and well, just about everyone else. (Source: nytimes.com)

According to The Wall Street Journal, a Yahoo and Microsoft merge would comprise less than 16% of the total search market. Compared with Google's staggering 62.4% market share, the merger would, to use the New York Times' fish analogy, seem to make two search company minnows into little more than a goldfish.

Of course, if you compare hard numbers in online revenue the gap closes. Google claimed $4.8 billion last quarter, while Yahoo and Microsoft had a combined total of $2.6 billion.

That being said, Google is not particularly comfortable with its position. On February 3, the search giant responded to Microsoft's bid. In a statement, the company raised fears that Microsoft's take over could help it dominate the Internet by potentially shutting out its competitors with software restrictions: "This is about more than simply a financial transaction...It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation...could a combination of [Microsoft and Yahoo] take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services?"

While the above argument has some merit to it, Google's recent acquisition of DoubleClick could send the company skyrocketing towards owning 80% of third-party online advertising. So much for openness and innovation. (Source: marketwatch.com)

If Yahoo falls, as many experts expect it will, two giants (or perhaps one giant) will remain to duke it out over advertising. Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's senior vice president for strategic partnership recent told the New York Times, "people are rooting for a credible No. 2." (Source: nytimes.com)

Microsoft, it seems, is merely trying to hang on in a fight it may have surrendered a long time ago.

Recent articles (from all channels):

2008/05/13 Today in History: for Tuesday, May 13, 2008
2008/05/13 [ShellX 20080513]: 'Drive Spacio', and 'Youtube Batch Downloader'
2008/05/13 Congressman Calls For Second Life Ban In Schools
2008/05/13 Trying to Exit MS Excel 2007
2008/05/13 Problems Reported With Windows XP SP3
2008/05/12 [ShellX 20080512]: 'Remote Manager', and 'Cyber Bandwidth ...
2008/05/12 Video Gaming Trade Group Struggling
2008/05/12 T-Mobile Finally Joins 3G Phone Race
2008/05/12 Apple Slammed by Environment Watchdog
2008/05/09 [ShellX 20080509]: 'Advanced Run', and 'Diver Windows Manager'
2008/05/09 Texas Refuses Facebook Friend Request
2008/05/09 Photo-Enforcement Technology Replaces Officers On Patrol
2008/05/09 Cuban Government Says 'Ok Computer'
2008/05/09 Excel Can E-Mail Your Weekly Reports For You!
2008/05/08 [ShellX 20080508]: 'Shell Enhancer', and 'Lansweeper'
2008/05/08 Xobni: MS Outlook Social Networking Technology for your Inbox
2008/05/08 Music Companies Jump on GTA IV Bandwagon
2008/05/08 Fascinating: Memristor to replace Binary
2008/05/08 Adobe Hopes To Make Flash Master Of The (Mobile) Universe
2008/05/08 Spiffy Envelopes and Labels in MS Word
2008/05/07 [ShellX 20080507]: 'Winbin2iso', and 'Loop Typer'
2008/05/07 Yahoo Adds Security Warnings To Search Results
2008/05/07 Apple to Lose Money on iTunes Movie Releases
2008/05/07 Amazon.com takes New York Tax to Court
2008/05/07 Need Glasses for the Slide Sorter View in MS PowerPoint?
2008/05/07 After Winning The DVD Format War, Blu-Ray Sales Tank
2008/05/06 [ShellX 20080506]: 'Visual Basic 6.0 Portable', and 'Double-...
2008/05/06 Yahoo Outsources to Jajah
2008/05/06 New HP Circuit Could Change Technology Forever
2008/05/06 Movie Downloads To Match DVD Release Dates
2008/05/06 Microsoft Ends Yahoo Bid

--

Subscription Management

To subscribe to our newsletter, or to read past issues:

http://www.infopackets.com/windows+newsletter.htm

To remove or change your subscription information, visit:

http://www.infopackets.com/remove+change+email.htm