And Just Like That... Neither Yahoo Nor Google Really That Motivated To Complete A Search Ad Deal

from the after-sobering-up... dept

Wed, May 7th 2008 11:23pm — Mike Masnick

Last month Yahoo did what it had previously insisted it wouldn't do: it began testing Google's ads in place of its own search ads. At the time, Yahoo insisted that it had nothing whatsoever to do with Microsoft's attempted takeover. It even claimed that the plans had been put in place well before Microsoft's unsolicited offer. Of course, now that Microsoft has withdrawn the offer -- citing the potential ad deal with Google as one of the main reasons for backing away -- suddenly it appears that neither Yahoo nor Google are all that keen on moving forward on a more advanced deal. Funny how that works.

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Filed Under: ads, search ads
Companies: google, microsoft, yahoo

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sohrab Osati, 8 May 2008 @ 12:16am

Win Win?
Well, that seems like a Win Win for Google right? No Microhoo! and or it would have had ads (revenue) on Yahoo!

Sounds like Google was the champ here
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davidlian, 8 May 2008 @ 3:05am

Just what Google wanted
ain't it? Well, savour the moment coz I'm predicting Microsoft is marching right back in with the hostile takeover bid just as soon as yahoo's stock deflate and internal pressure mounts.
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Doug Robb, 8 May 2008 @ 5:25am

Lose Lose
I think MS$$$ dodged a bullet by not shovelling out all the extra cash when its improved offer was rejected. Really what were those Yahoo guys thinking? I think shareholders will be pretty pissed with what happens next. They are going backwards from here ... when they could have walked away on the top end of the market.

And as for google - more time to establish applications as services so at least they have had a win!
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Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2008 @ 5:30am

Re: Win Win?
"Microhoo" would have been good for Google most likely. The corporate cultures of Yahoo and Microsoft are too different, and MS is notorious for dismantling any existing technology in a company they buy to use a MS version.

Their purchase of hotmail comes to mind . . .
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Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2008 @ 7:25am

If Microsoft has so blasted much cash sitting around, why don't they use it to hire people who can make Windows what it should be? Windows is starting to lose ground, but it has a lot of potential. If they would really seriously listen to their userbase, and start dumping some legacy stuff in favor of feature advancement, then maybe that will turn around again. One of the key areas Windows is failing in is trying to maintain too much backwards compatibility while still bringing major new features to the table. That is causing some serious bloat and stability issues. What I think needs to happen is that they need to continue supporting Windows XP for several more years to accomodate legacy applications, and they need to dump a lot the backwards compatibility stuff in the next version of Windows so that it can be streamlined and offer major changes.
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asdf, 8 May 2008 @ 7:43am

Re:
perhaps windows 7?
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chris (profile), 8 May 2008 @ 9:15am

Re:
I think needs to happen is that they need to continue supporting Windows XP for several more years to accomodate legacy applications, and they need to dump a lot the backwards compatibility stuff in the next version of Windows so that it can be streamlined and offer major changes.

other than supporting xp for many years, this is exactly what MS has done with vista. that is why there are so many driver issues with vista and why so many programs have needed major work to function with vista. it's the dirver issues and software incompatibilities that have made everyone so reluctant to switch over.

MS is in a no win situation. if they continue legacy support, there is no reason for the world to switch over to vista/office 2007 which means a serious decline in revenue.

if they fix what's wrong, drop the bloat, and eliminate legacy support, the transition to vista or whatever will be too much in terms of time and money for a lot of big businesses. at that point the logic for a lot of companies is that if the next upgrade is going to take several months, cost millions, and require tons of training for the staff, why not switch over to something that gives us more control?

MS is where it is because the whole world knows how to use windows and office. alter those products too drastically and you have lost that advantage and put yourself on level ground with your competitors.

so the only choice MS has is to stick to the formula: fix what's wrong with the old version and add new (sometimes broken) features, and slowly remove support for older applications and hardware, and curry favor with software developers by making tools that make development easier.

the result is a massive codebase that is only going to get bigger and a userbase that grumbles about stability and compatibility while refusing to be interested in new versions.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2008 @ 9:24am

Why would an ad deal scare Microsoft away? I know their search engines are competitors..but couldn't Microsoft get out of the deal, and if not, merely wait for it to expire and then switch.

They'd still make money on the ad deal, just maybe not as much.

Secondily, now that the deal has fizzled, Microsoft should again solicite an offer.
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mobiGeek, 8 May 2008 @ 5:03pm

Re: Re:
I agree that driver issues and software compatibility are one of the major problems with Vista, but there are other major issues beyond that.

I have various extended family members who have purchased their first computers with Vista on it and they are having simple usability problems that simply should not be in a "next generation" operating system.
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