Will this be the week for Microhoo?
When things are going to take awhile, executives like to tell us that it's a marathon and not a sprint. Well, the Microhoo affair has moved beyond marathon. It's at least up to the status of multi-day cricket match.
That is to say, it has become this painful thing that we all wish would end so that we can report the final score. Ad Age says that we may well be able to hit publish on our long-ago-written deal stories sometime this week. I'm also hearing that a deal could still come this week. But I learned a long time ago not to hold my breath.
According to the Ad Age report, Microsoft reached for a glass of water after Yahoo demanded a large upfront payment (hundreds of millions of dollars) in addition to the long-term guarantees in exchange for handing search duties over to Redmond. But Ad Age reports that things got back on track late last week.
Things heated back up a couple weeks ago now and have been close but no cigar since then, according to sources all too familiar with the situation. That said, a deal could come any time now.
In essence, this boils down to the same thing every time. The two companies have to decide how to compete with Google on search. They can either go it alone or tie their fates together. Each is the other's only real move to gain scale in a business that is all about scale.
Microsoft has made it abundantly clear all along that it would prefer to add Yahoo's market share to its effort, which makes sense, since Yahoo holds on the order of twice Microsoft's market share, which tends to be around 10 percent of the search market.
It may sound like trivializing to suggest this is like a giant teenage romance, but really these things are as much about the people involved as the finances.
Yahoo has played hard to get, while at the same time trying to figure out how to be more popular. But Yahoo now seems to be happy enough with its outfit and willing to be seen in public with Microsoft, provided it is willing to spend enough to make the date worthwhile.
Now we just have to wait to see whether they pick an early breakfast or a matinee for the date and which day they pick--assuming Yahoo doesn't get cold feet again.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
Love the metaphors, by the way - "reaching for a glass of water" and the teen romance. Hilarious and apt! It's important to keep a good sense of humor about these two behemoths trying to toss their lots in with one another.
I think Microsoft is on the right path with Bing and they should focus more on pushing that home grown effort.
So how is anyone going to know it's Bing instead of Yahoo. It's like getting a Chevy engine in your Ford Mustang. How do you know it's a Chevy when the top of the engine says Ford. Nobody is going to know why it performs better than the older Mustangs, so they will just keep buying the new Mustangs because they are faster all of a sudden. (Just an analogy Chevy & Ford fans. Let's not start a Ford is better than Chevy argument LOL!)
In another words they will just keep coming back to Yahoo for search even though they are actually using Bing but don't know it. I would say NO WAY. Keep playing hard to get and see what that gets you Yahoo, continued erosion of market share while Bing continues to take it away from them.
I recall in a TWiT podcast it being commented that even a 1% increase in marketshare equalled roughly $1 million extra in ad revenue as a result. That's some money worth going after.
The party is over Microsoft.
Dvorak's blog (and it is a blog, not a professional journalist, be sure you know the difference) is an interesting one. He has long been against most change in the industry. His general position is to make outlandish statements for the purpose of generating comments and debate regardless of his personal opinion. He makes this clear and admits to it largely in This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte. He goes on at length about how much he feels that Apple is missing the boat with too many 'shiny objects' (one of his favorite topics) as well in his own podcast, No Agenda.
I listen to both and recognize a topic tossed out to generate page views and discussion. It's a good point he makes that a company needs to focus on products and get them out the door instead of letting yourself get distracted too much. He points to the Apple Mini and Apple TV as well as many of the stunted and abandoned Microsoft projects and to listen to him go on a tirade about cloud services and all things Google has always been entertaining.
If you enjoy his litany, then you might enjoy "The Cranky Geeks", another of his podcasts, this one with video.
This is a situation of knowing the source before you blindy read, then relink a story clearly meant to bait people exactly like you. :)
> When things are going to take awhile, executives like to tell us that it's a marathon and not a sprint. Well, the Microhoo affair has moved beyond marathon. It's at least up to the status of multi-day cricket match.
I'd have gone with "Corporate Merger Olympics" in drawing an analogy here...but if cricket's your thing....
- by July 29, 2009 3:06 PM PDT
- Go ahead Ina, you can say "I told you so..."
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