Comments on: Microsoft never wanted Yahoo anyway

Don Reisinger thinks the Microsoft-Yahoo deal looks awfully similar to Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Intuit about 15 years ago. If true, did Microsoft ever want to acquire Yahoo?

[Wolfman-K]

Whoa, and I thought I was jaded. I like the theory, and it makes a lot of sense, however.... I'm not buying it.

I think Microsoft has every intention of buying Yahoo and using it to save it's own failing Live services. I don't think the game is over yet, I expect Balmer to get more hostile in the days to come, perhaps even buying out shareholders who agree for a real old school hostile take over, for less than the initial offer.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft just backs off now....

[robwill53]

You gotta be kidding me. You don't deserve a blog if you cannot find something more credible than this as a subject. You are reionforcing the idea that bloggers are journalists that can't get a real job. Microsoft wanted Intuit for the Quicken products and the customer base. The DoJ spiked the deal. Microsoft Money never took off and Quicken has continued to dominate the market. The idea that Microsoft gained access to the Quicken secret sauce and then used that info to eradicate the product is not supported by the facts.

The idea that Microsoft would make the Yahoo offer just to get a peek under the hood is equally ridiculous. You don't make a $46m offer that casually. What if it goes through? Nobody plays chicken with that much cash.

[The_Decider]

I am not saying he is correct, but there is no way MS could think that this would be approved.

[robvme]

Wow! All this article needs is a UFO or JFK conspiracy theory to be complete. To think that Microsoft would make such an overature to see what Yahoo is doing to improve competition against Google and then back out at the last minute is a stunningly ridiculous notion. The comment above says it all, you don't put that kind of money on the table unless you are ready to buy. As far as anti-trust, wouldn't be an issue in this case in my opinion.

The author of this article should probably should leave prognosticating to the psychics.

[philb30]

I think Dvorak mentioned this same thing on this week's Cranky Geeks (ep 102).

[mcooper13]

You have to be seriously naive to think that Microsoft is not capable of this kind of thing. I think it's highly plausible. In fact it would be one the more tame dirty tricks the company has pulled off.