Leaving Las Yahoo: Microsoft’s $5 Billion Mistake?

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Sphinn It!

Went Hot: May 05, 2008 - 09:15 am
Posted By: aimClear 438 Days ago
Source: http://searchengineland.com
Category: Vertical Search

(Danny Sullivan post) If Microsoft’s Yahoo walkaway is a ploy to save $5 billion, CEO Steve Ballmer may have proven himself pennywise & pound foolish. He was prepared to spend billions to make Microsoft a serious Google rival but may have destroyed Microsoft’s chance. (insight to deeper MS brand problems)

6 Comments

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Comments

from planetc1 437 Days ago #

Votes: 1

I’ve read a number of reports on this topic over the weekend. The writing of Danny Sullivan on search topics like this is like the sports jouranlism of Howard Cosell. I’ve read nothing in major media that compares to Dannys in depth coverage. When are journalism classes coming to SMX?

from bwelford 437 Days ago #

Votes: 1

If you could read only one analysis article on this topic, this would be a strong contender. It adopts the ’helicopter vision’ approach and brings out most of the important dimensions of this Microsoft snafu.

from Winooski 437 Days ago #

Votes: 1

Agreed on the ’helicopter vision’ thing. This type of analysis is where Danny really shines.

from demib 437 Days ago #

Votes: 1

Agreed, as usual Danny has written an exelent article. However, this time I don’t agree much with the conclusions he make in it.First of all I don’t think MS dropped this deal by any mistake or because they wanted to save 5 million. Its part of a strategy to get Yahoo - now they just moved on the the second stage. Don’t underestimate MS’s strategy skills! :)Also, it seems to me that the Yahoo mangement have a childish love relationship with their brand. Its just not a grown up way of managing a public company. In fact, its very arrogant - not just to MS (which off course dosn’t count) but to their stock holders. Yahoo have been trying to convince the markets that they are worth more - they have failed. The Yahoo managements job is to make sure its stock holder get the most value. I don’t think they do that these days.

from stan64 437 Days ago #

Votes: 0

Its great to read Danny’s perspective on this topic. I like how he summed it up and gave us "his" interpretations on what the letter to Yahoo translated in between the lines. It just goes to show that there are huge egos (at the helm of the these publicly traded companies) and posturing taking place and the best poker player (or the game of chicken player) will win at the end of the day. It will be interesting next few weeks to see how this further unfolds, by no means is it the end.

from aimClear 437 Days ago #

Votes: 0

As always, dialog-sparked is why we read SEL.