Yahoo Now Thinks AOL Will Be A Savior?

from the seriously? dept

Mon, Feb 11th 2008 1:58am — Mike Masnick

Over the weekend, reports quickly came out that Yahoo's board had apparently decided to reject Microsoft's takeover bid, which wasn't too surprising, given what the company had been hinting at all week. There was plenty of talk about looking for other suitors, but one by one, the few obvious candidates all backed away. Then, late Sunday a new rumor arose: Yahoo! might try to keep Microsoft away by merging with AOL. That seems sort of like trying to keep a wild animal from eating you by covering yourself with feces. It might make awful sense for about a second, but it's just a bad, bad idea. First, it's unlikely to work -- and, second, it's just pathetic. As much as it seemed like Microsoft merging its web operations with Yahoo would be two also-rans pretending a merger would somehow make them into a web operation people cared about, merging with AOL would be even worse. Of course, the folks over at Google must be laughing hysterically at the possibility. Not only would an AOL/Yahoo merger appear to be less of a competitive worry than a Yahoo/Microsoft merger, Google might actually make out quite well in the deal, since it owns a piece of AOL. So, in the unlikely chance that Yahoo merges with AOL and fends off Microsoft, Google would cash out of AOL, watch Yahoo struggle to merge with AOL and see Microsoft left without a big internet partner. That has to be Google's dream scenario.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: desperation, mergers
Companies: aol, google, microsoft, time warner, yahoo

34 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Grizzly, 11 Feb 2008 @ 3:29am

Beautiful. Just......Beautiful!
I have always hated Ao-hell with a passion and never got fond of yahoo...but mixing the two is like....adding extra stink to a pile of feces. It's just beautiful to see that a mediochre company making a decision to merge with a FAILING company to try to be a competitor with google. I laughed when i read this post and i hope that they DO merge. personally i hope both yahoo AND AOL die off SOON.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous jerk, 11 Feb 2008 @ 3:30am

Conglomo, anyone?
If these net based companies continue to merge, we're going to be dealing with MicroYahAOL(tack on the rest of the names here).com

Lol...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John S, 11 Feb 2008 @ 3:35am

AOL in worse shape
AOL is by far in worse shape then Yahoo. I can't imagine any good coming from anyone merging with AOL. Time Warner is just jettisoning AOL into a web void.
If anything maybe Microsoft should buy AOL cheap and at least gain some dial up customers and work to improve web 2.0
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Thom, 11 Feb 2008 @ 4:44am

Funniest and truest article ever
Never has covering yourself with feces been funnier than when it's being compared to buying AOL.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2008 @ 5:07am

And this is why Yahoo is where they are now...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
fuse5k, 11 Feb 2008 @ 5:24am

certainly to me at least covering onesself with faeces is preferable to having anything to do with AOL
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Killer_Tofu (profile), 11 Feb 2008 @ 5:33am

AOL and Yahoo Merge
to become:
Yaolhoooo! (imagine that annoying yahoo sound with the ooo's on the end, like that))
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Alimas, 11 Feb 2008 @ 5:38am

Wow
Ooo, ooo, I've got one.
Merging with AOL would be like setting your car on fire in order to make sure no one's going to steal it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2008 @ 6:16am

Re: Wow
I'll go you one better. It's like setting your pubes on fire to make sure nobody pulls them out.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 11 Feb 2008 @ 6:32am

A sad (but necessary) parting
If Yahoo! and AOL merge I will be forced to abandon my first email account (Yahoo! 1996) that has served my spam so well all these years. I just don't want to release my unscathed gmail address to the masses. It may be time to buck up and put my infinite faith in Google's spam blocking.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2008 @ 6:36am

This merger little sense to the investor.

Come on now- Google is building a wireless network for crying out loud. Internet on the computer will be "So 2006".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pete, 11 Feb 2008 @ 6:46am

what amazes me is that people get paid big money to come up with such an idiotic idea
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2008 @ 6:47am

And then... Microsoft acquires Danger.

Hmmmm...

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/02/11/afx4639285.html
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve-O, 11 Feb 2008 @ 7:35am

Some tips for Yahoo
AOL? Of all companies? Even Microsoft is a better choice. Yahoo should be stay independent, all other options are taking us towards a world with less symbols and a plain monochromatic industry. By the way, this is hilarious: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Negotiate---Tips-for-Yahoo-5794173
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve Nihan, 11 Feb 2008 @ 8:01am

Not that anyone would remember me....
I doubt anyone will rememberme, but years ago, before social networking, .net, and major hosting companies, I built a company (LYBUS.com) from the ground up, developing everything as I went along, including web based email, hosting, chat, instant messaging, downloads, news, directory (based on dmoz), and a self submitting search engine. Then Yahoo bought up Geocities, and I lost most if not all of my business over the course of a year. I have cursed Yahoo since then, and will continue to do so until the day they close their doors.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Iron Chef, 11 Feb 2008 @ 8:08am

Yeech
I have to watch what I say on here. That's it! No more freebies.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20071221/010141.shtml
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Iron Chef, 11 Feb 2008 @ 8:18am

Re: Not that anyone would remember me....
I vaguely remember what your mentioning. So it was a part of the Geocities acquisition?

I miss those days when the 'net felt like the wild west.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
matt, 11 Feb 2008 @ 8:19am

Yay!!!
I love Yahoo, and I love AOL!! They made my childhood great -- I could go to a coffee bar in town, log onto AOL dialup on their Mac(or Apple or whatever you call it), and go to pepsi.com or yahoo.com. Much fun!!!

I don't think I've used Yahoo since, except for Yahoo Finance which is a pretty informative site. I don't think I ever used AOL, except to use the free trial, then call and complain at the end and get them to extend it... then cancel for real before ever having to pay for it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hoeppner, 11 Feb 2008 @ 8:48am

12% of company ownership is typically enough to guarantee control over a company without having to worry about politics in any way shape or form.

the 5% google owns in AOL is likely enough to control it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
4-80-sicks, 11 Feb 2008 @ 9:02am

Who the hell wants to merge with AOL? What is this, like Yahoo doesn't like Microsoft but it can't find anyone else to take to the Valentine's Day dance so it just asks the fattest ugliest company it can find?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jay Neely, 11 Feb 2008 @ 9:07am

My second correction of a
Yay for senseless bashing with no real thought or analysis applied. I'll re-iterate my comments from the TechCrunch post:

How an AOL merger helps Yahoo!...

1) Yahoo! maintains its position as the top site on the web. Quantcast shows that adding AOL’s visitors to Yahoo!’s puts Yahoo! at almost 200 million monthly uniques, almost 50% ahead of Google. ComScore data is less exact, since it groups AOL under “Time Warner Network”, but still shows the same trend:
- http://www.quantcast.com/top-sites-1
- http://www.comscore.com/press/.....press=2000

2) Yahoo! becomes the dominant player in IM. Yahoo! Messenger is already interoperable with Windows Live Messenger; adding interoperability with AIM means that they control ~70% of desktop IM client market share(more recent numbers on this are needed, but by the end of 2006 AIM was ~50 million, and both Yahoo! and Microsoft’s were ~20 million), and their clients can talk to everyone else’s. Yahoo! and AOL have both made progress in integrating IM with E-mail, something Microsoft still hasn’t done. As Yahoo! expands its e-mail services into enterprise markets, and enterprises increase their usage of IM, this could be a big deal.

3) Much better integration potential than with Microsoft. After being stuck in Time Warner’s in-fighting old media bureaucracy for so long, I’d imagine that AOL employees would be overjoyed to be brought into an organization that understands and is about the web. There’s also excellent potential for brand integration here:
- Yahoo! is a brand AOL users would be comfortable with.
- It’s a brand that it makes sense for AOL to adopt as it’s been expanding overseas operations(where Yahoo! already has a strong presence).
- The Yahoo! brand offers a graceful way to retire a brand that the tech-savvy have long scorned.
- Go to Yahoo.com, then go to AOL.com. The portals are almost identical. It’s feasible that a full-scale integration of the two properties could at some point take place.

4) There are plenty of other reasons why an AOL/Yahoo! merger has potential. Concentration of content-provider partnerships, joint efforts in mobile services/advertising, online/offline music offerings, and the fact that both are much more youth-friendly brands than MSN or Google. Plus more.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
TF, 11 Feb 2008 @ 9:24am

Whats wrong with AOL
Its a decent portal and since they have moved away from dial up marketing - no problems calling their support as well ;)

If they merge with AOL, they will control IM in the US, Advertising (advertising.com), finance (AOL was highest in Dec ) and even Mail - AOL mail was crap, now its usable and adding nice features!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
THOG, 11 Feb 2008 @ 9:38am

Re:
ME THOG LITTLE SENSE INVESTOR! ME THOG BASH HEAD!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
4-80-sicks, 11 Feb 2008 @ 9:40am

Re: My second correction of a
Yay for senseless bashing with no real thought or analysis applied. I'll re-iterate my comments from the TechCrunch post:
Come on, man, what fun is that? :-)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
sm, 11 Feb 2008 @ 10:03am

in the unlikely chance that Yahoo merges with AOL and fends off Microsoft, Google would cash out of AOL, watch Yahoo struggle to merge with AOL and see Microsoft left without a big internet partner.

Alternatively, this is a good way for Google to have some say in Yahoo! while avoiding anti-trust concerns.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Peet McKimmie (profile), 11 Feb 2008 @ 10:19am

Re: Funniest and truest article ever
Never before has the analogy with "covering yourself with faeces" seemed so understated. It's difficult to think of anything as demeaning and demoralising as being forced to merge with AOL.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Peet McKimmie (profile), 11 Feb 2008 @ 10:22am

Re: A sad (but necessary) parting
You're lucky. I had no choice when they bought over Netscape and "migrated" my rather nice Netscape.com email account to a crappy, ad-encrusted AOL.com account. :'-(
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Peet McKimmie (profile), 11 Feb 2008 @ 10:28am

Re: My second correction of a
adding AOL’s visitors to Yahoo!’s puts Yahoo! at almost 200 million monthly uniques

This assumes, I suspect erroneously, that there is zero overlap between the set of people who visit AOL and Yahoo!...

I think it's far more likely that both sites have a very high proportion of surfers with the "Portal mentality", and thus combining their userbases will leave them with not much more than the larger of the initial two userbases.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2008 @ 10:50am

Re: A sad (but necessary) parting
Don't worry about spam on Gmail. I stopped using my Yahoo account about 6 months ago after switching to Gmail. To date I can honestly say only 2 spam messages have ever made it to my inbox. Gmail's spam filters are 1000's times more effective than Yahoo or MSN.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jay Neely, 11 Feb 2008 @ 11:25am

Re: Re: My second correction of a
I disagree. Why would surfers use two separate portals whose offerings are virtually identical? I think it's far more likely that any overlap occurs between people who use Yahoo!/AOL for its portal features, and Google for search.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Milton, 11 Feb 2008 @ 12:24pm

It seems the internet culture is lost to Ben Franklin's phonetic language. However, I feel it necessary to wonder if anyone on the internet, these days, knows the difference between 'then' and 'than'. I feel like I am reading from a novel that is un-worthy of any kind of an award (Old Man and the Sea -- Ernest Hemmingway -- reads like a 1st grade English book...much like these comments). Regardless, any company offering 44.6 billion for Yahoo! either have nothing but geniuses working for them or are the epitome of a low-browed knuckle dragging hominid incapable of even the simplest of tasks.

I would like to see Yahoo! taken over by AOL...would, most likely, be the end for two dying dogs. Both are a haven for predators -- at least according to the volume of media coverage regarding both as opposed to similar sites -- they should get along nicely.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Online shopping store, 11 Feb 2008 @ 12:39pm

Yahoo Now Thinks AOL Will Be A Savior?
I cannot believe what I am reading. Has Yahoo gone completely crazy? First it wanted to do business with the Search Engine 500Ib gorilla, then now it wants to do deals with AOL too?
Fixing Yahoo should not be too difficult. Cut down on your workforce. Improve service. Advertise more and your problems will be over. Yahoo's search engine is much better than that of the Gorilla monster because it indexes and ranks the website correctly. Unfortunately, most people don't use it in searching. This is the major problem. This can be changed by focused massive advertising.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Silverwolf, 11 Feb 2008 @ 6:30pm

AOL
AOL gets a bad rap because of their historical customer service behavior and how much they have lost due to mis-management.

But comparing them to feces ? Come-on, they aren't that bad.

They do offer some compelling services, completely free of charge, and they are actively trying to improve those services all the time.

And they still have lots and lots of users.

I wouldn't pay for it, but I don't pay for Google or yahoo either.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
greggnihan@gmail.com, 30 Jan 2010 @ 3:55pm

the h bomb
no one left here but rats and cockaroaches,well my job is done here move on to the next city, who am????yup!!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]