The Microsoft/Yahoo mash up

Everyone has obviously heard by now of the USD44bill hostile takeover bid for Yahoo launched by Microsoft.

There’s plenty of analysis around the blogosphere – most of it saying that the clash of cultures, the “evil empire” culture of MS, and the lack of direction and innovation from both parties will see them both fail. As one commentator put it;

I think the Microsoft and Yahoo matchup is like two tired swimmers who bump into each other and then wind up drowning each other in their scramble to survive. But Yahoo will be the first to go under in this embrace.

I’m not so sure – I posted recently asking whether Google et al were a Microsoft killer. I’d always thought they were. This deal would see on the one hand Microhoo move to a roughly 30%  share of search traffic, but more importantly it shows a Microsoft moving itself strongly into the 2.0 side of the equation.

It’s not another one or two billion dollar acquisition that will strip some value and then go back to the status quo. Yahoo has a similar number of employees as MS and we’re talking about a deal worth somewhere in the vicinity of a seventh of the total MS market capitalisation – this speaks much about the seriousness MS is approaching this deal with.

So I say that this deal, should it go through, levels the playing field significantly.