If you aren’t a complete newb on the Web, you must know that nothing ever happens without Google. If Microsoft bid for Yahoo on Friday, Google couldn’t help commenting the deal on its official blog on Sunday. To believe David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, this bid can’t be called other than “hostile” and raising “troubling question”, while Google itself remains warm and fuzzy, focusing on “interests of Internet users” and “openness, choice and innovation”.
What most news directories say: The current deal between Microsoft and Yahoo has been negotiated for 18 months and resulted in an unsolicited offer of $31 a share ($44.6 billion total). According to Microsoft authorities, this bid represents a premium for shareholders, yet Yahoo is putting off the decision, aspiring to jack up the price. As for the software titan, Microsoft is going to borrow money – for the first time in its history! – to fund the acquisition. Meanwhile Google does its best to spoil the deal.
What people think: Now this news is widely discussed throughout the Web. Some people believe in Microsoft + Yahoo marriage, others bet that Google won’t tolerate their merging. I decided to place the most common/interesting opinions here:
“Paying so much bucks for Yahoo is sheer folly! Microsoft will have to wait at least 100 years to surpass this investment. On its place I wouldn’t.”
Well, Yahoo’s market positions aren’t so sweet as in 2000, when the company saw its stock peak, charging $100 per share (compared with its current price of $29). However, Microsoft analysts are convinced that the merging with Yahoo will generate $1 billion yearly. True or not, anyways Microsoft revenue will be growing next year: to believe Reuters Estimates, it must increase by 10% on average.
“Google is afraid.”
And if your two competitors unite to smash your business, wouldn’t you be? Actually Google becomes very active when it is frightened: thus, its CEO Eric Schmidt offered Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang support while resisting Microsoft’s take-over attempt (according to business dictionary, this means: “offered A LOT OF cash”).
“As we all know Google lives to annoy Microsoft”
Here I could second Larry Dignan: Microsoft and Google may look like implacable enemies – just remember that incident with DoubleClick acquisition. However, from time to time I wonder if someone knows that Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates contributed to Google development by investing $6 million in Stanford Computer Science Center which became the cradle for PageRank and which, by the way, still owns the rights for the unique algorithm.
“I know why Google is planning to bid for Yahoo: it wants to monopolize the Web!”
I think the word “monopoly” is often misunderstood. According to Webster’s Dictionary it refers to “exclusive control or possession of something”. Today Google has 62% of the worldwide Internet search market, and if it merges with Yahoo, this number may grow up to 75%, which is still far from 100%.
What is your opinion? Really guys, what do you think of Microyah-Yahoogle future trends?
Image by ? Sigalakos