Friday, February 1, 2008

Microsoft Bids for Yahoo!

Today, cash heavy software company Microsoft, made public its whopping $44 billion dollar bid for search engine giant Yahoo. Microsoft is notoriously known for being stingy in spending or investing any of its enormous cash reserves, but with this eye-popping bid, in an effort to take on goliath Google, they are ready to crack the piggy bank and splurge on what will play a large part in their future growth--search technologies.

This could be perfect timing for Yahoo, as their shares have been slipping lately while Google's shares continue to remain steady. A few years back, Yahoo failed to take advantage of the lucrative advertising dollars of search, where Google gobbled up the market. Now as advertisers look to increase spending to a projected $80 billion over the next two years, Microsoft needs what market share Yahoo does have to capitalize on the growing popularity of the internet for news and entertainment where once mediums like radio, television, and newspapers ruled.


It's a strange time in corporate world. With the battle over being number one, It seems everyone wants a piece of anothers pie to get there. Because as Microsoft attempts to acquire Yahoo to capitalize on the lucrative display Ad market, Google looks to get into Microsoft territory with its own free office applications, Google Apps Team Edition.

While Microsoft's bid is monumental, they still have many hurdles ahead like possible antitrust laws, Yahoo shareholders, and the likely hood of other bidders. The internet business reminds me of the movie Dark City, where the everything changes overnight. Hopefully, what emerges in the morning will be a landscape beaming with new amazing options for the consumer.


Emerging web based mediums:

Entertainment:
Hulu.com, YouTube, Fox On Demand


Newspaper: Craigslist

Photo Source: Paul Sakuma / AP file

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