Microsoft Walks Away From Yahoo! Acquisition
I am elated to read about the talks breaking down between Microsoft and Yahoo!. I can only imagine that most Yahoo! employees are relieved, or will be once they hear the news. The past couple months have been extremely hectic and stress-filled, wondering and waiting for the evil business machinations to work themselves out like a chess game gone wrong.
Microsoft will announce shortly that they have withdrawn their offer to acquire Yahoo. Talks between the two companies and their advisors broke down earlier today, according to a source close to Microsoft, after a failure to come to agreement on price and other terms.
Bus seriously, from a realistic perspective, the deal never made any sense whatsoever. An acquisition and merge of this magnitude was bound for failure, even if the deal went through. Microsoft is just too incapable of adapting for the web, so they shot for the largest smart company who was perceived as being “in trouble.” Yahoo! apparently fit that profile.
The culture at the two companies are completely polar opposites. Microsoft is mired in red tape and politics whereas Yahoo! aims to get things done. Yahoo!’s employees actually enjoy working for the company, many of them never considering working for Microsoft because of the evil business practices of the corporate behemoth. On the other hand, Microsoft employees work for the company because of the excellent salary and benefits. I have not found too many Microsoft employees who take a huge amount of pride in their work, which is completely contrary to almost any Yahoo! employee.
Could you really see these Yahoo! employee’s taking pride in working for Microsoft, especially if the acquisition was completed under hostile terms? I know I sure as hell never expected the Yahoos to be happy about the prospect of working for one of the most despised companies in the technology sector. Having been through similar moves, I know Microsoft and Yahoo! are better off having not completed this ill-fated acquisition.
It should be interesting to see what final straw broke the proverbial camel’s back, sending both parties on their merry way with their tails between their legs.
Most people commenting on the fallout of the acquisition attempt are saying this is a Microsoft victory. I beg to differ; the fact that Microsoft walked away whimpering gives me the impression that Yahoo! is the big winner here. David told Goliath where to stick it, Goliath listened and walked away like the bitch he really is behind closed doors.
Surely Yahoo! will see this as a victory as well, potentially using the outcome to revitalize the company. That can only be a good thing(tm) because Google needs real competition!
You seem to have a good deal of insight into the thoughts and feelings of, not just Yahoo, but Microsoft employees. I guess that comes with being a Mac aficionado.
Consider yourselves lucky, Sympatico (Bell Canada’s web front) and MSN have been in bed together for quite a while. I guess it suits them, but it always pains me to sign out of hotmail (live? whatever) and see their ‘home’ screen.
I am glad it didn’t take place, MS would have ported everything over to IIS like they did with Hotmail and cause huge amounts of trouble it its wake, not to mention what would have happeened to all the neat little side projects Yahoo does, like YUI and Yahoo Pipes, man I love Yahoo pipes.
Microsoft Pipes just doesn’t have the same ring as Yahoo Pipes does. :P
But you’re right…I fear that Microsoft would have forced Yahoo to use MS technology. Considering Yahoo is, by and large, a PHP and MySQL company, it would have been interesting to see what technology strategy Microsoft would have employed upon Yahoo. Some questions are better left unanswered methinks.
All is well I suppose, except for Yahoo!. Since their stock price plummet when the news of Microsoft backed down broke.
Like you said, Yahoo! still need to revitalize itself. I still prefer Yahoo Mail’s interface over hotmail’s one.
What’s up with this idea that Google will somehow stagnate if they don’t have competition? Google isn’t exactly your everyday company.
Right now I’m using Google Reader, Mail and Calendar on a daily basis, and the student group I’m working with even organized our assignment work through Google Groups. I don’t use them through brand devotion, I use them because they’re useful products.
I hate to sound like a blind fan but I just can’t see Google ending up as just another lazy monopoly.