Google and Ballmer on Microsoft-Yahoo

Microsoft’s proposed purchase of Yahoo is a bad idea for Microsoft. Now Google says it’s a bad idea for the Internet.

The openness of the Internet is what made Google — and Yahoo! — possible. A good idea that users find useful spreads quickly. Businesses can be created around the idea. Users benefit from constant innovation. It’s what makes the Internet such an exciting place.

So Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It’s about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies — and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

On the flipside, this purchase could very well destroy both Microsoft and Yahoo. Microsoft would empty its war chest on something that can’t compete with Google, and Yahoo would be slowed down by the dinosaurs at Microsoft. I’m sure Google wouldn’t mind that bit. The sad part is, somewhere deep down beneath all that fat and bravado, Ballmer knows this.

Ballmer said he loved when his rivals merged, because whenever the also-rans in any market start teaming up they might as well be waving a white flag. Because it’s over. You’ve beaten them. You’ve driven them to despair. They haven’t been able to beat you on their own; there’s no way they’ll do it together.

Microsoft-Yahoo won’t kill Google. It’ll just annoy everyone else.

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Comments

4 Comments on “Google and Ballmer on Microsoft-Yahoo”
  1. Curt Monash says:

    As per http://www.texttechnologies.com/2008/02/03/microsoft-yahoo-synergies/ , I think you’re much too pessimistic.

    It’s very early days yet in the markets where Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google compete. Yet there are enough economies of scale that the merger makes sense.

    CAM

  2. Dave Wieneke says:

    Microsoft Purchase of Yahoo Won’t Happen As Predicted

    Microsoft’s statement that it expects to have regulatory approval by the middle of the year is gamesmanship. And, though the EU is uneasy about Google, creating a bigger Microsoft monolith really wouldn’t be EU’s first choice for dealing with this concern. Expect a much longer approval process, which is a greater risk to this deal than currently acknowledged.

  3. I think it is a great move by Microsoft, and no I don’t think Microsoft’s War Chest will run out on a deal of this size. The direction I see Microsoft taking is one of strategic importance for the burgeoning ADVERTISING possibilities. Yes, this is about improving its online/web services, but the reality is this merger will allow Microsoft to better serve brands/advertisers. Similar to Facebook, they are preparing the stage for an advertising battle with google (who is moving at lightning pace to develop and lead mobile and web advertising components). This is no longer just about who provides better services, it is now a battle about who will control the mobile/web advertising industry– and with the hundreds of billions– thats a BIG MARKET.

Reply to Dave Wieneke