Microsft Bid for Yahoo!

My last month's post (Jan 14th) "Microsoft+Yahoo>Google" - the billion dollar question - where I had written about Microsoft's interest in Yahoo, seems to be getting closer to reality. With today's announcement of Microsoft's offer of $45 Bn to yahoo, where at one end Yahoo stocks rose by 60% during the day, Google's dropped. This, in spite of the fact that Google showed 17% growth in Q4, its stock price went down by 7%. As a side note: Q3 profit for Google was 46%. Wall Street is benchmarking Google against Google :)

Anyways, it will be an interesting development and many equations will change if the Microsoft-Yahoo deal gets finalized. It is worth the wait to see what happens next - I surely am watchful.

In my previous post, I had mentioned and I repeat "But, at $45 billion, is this game worth playing?"

These are some related interesting read, that adds different perspectives to the deal:

CBS News

M&A and the Anti-trust

How it Helps Google - Information Week

80% odds that deal will be successful

India Connection

And Google Evolved ...

I was reading about some search algorithms and trying to find more about Inverted Index search. I happened to come across this site, which discusses about the way different search engines execute the queries and index the sites (if they do).

I was enjoying reading and trying to absorb the relevant information, when I read the following (see the excerpt, below):

"Page Ranking
There is a relatively new search engine on the Internet - Google. This uses a system of page ranking to achieve accurate search results (Google calls this technology PageRank - highly imaginative name ... not). From Google's own web pages, here is their explanation of how their system works:......"

This is when, I realized the age of the document and how different the style of writing would have been, if it were written, like now.

Google has evolved, since then!

Microsoft + Yahoo! --> Google?

Will Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo! lead the combined entity get closer to Google?

A quick glance at the stats in the Search Domain for the Top 3 players shows*:
Google - 65.98%
Yahoo - 20.88%
Microsoft - 7.04%.

Well, this is the multi-billion dolor ($$$) question that only time or the informed sources will be able to tell. Meanwhile, it is for us to speculate and watch the game.

Yahoo! acquisition will definitely help Microsoft close the gap and and boost its desperate game plan to dominate and out do Google!

A look at some more stats
Yahoo! has a market capitalization of approximately $31 Billion.
Yahoo's 1/3rd stake in Yahoo! Japan is $9 Billion.
Yahoo's 10% stake in Alibaba.com is worth approximately $1.7 Billion.
Yahoo's 40% stake in Alibaba.com's parent company, Alibaba Group, is an estimated of $8 Billion and $16 Billion.

The current valuation of Yahoo based on the Nasdaq listing does not fully reflect Yahoo’s investments, which if realized would give Yahoo a valuation upwards of US$45 Billion.

But, at $45 billion, is this game worth playing?

Another Billion dolor question! But what about the Anti-trust? Is Microsoft prepared to fight another suit?

*Latest Hitwise report of U.S. Searches (Dec 2007)
Read few more interested articles on this topic at:
http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20061218/4055/
http://www.webguild.org/2008/01/is-yahoo-takeover-imminent.php
2006 CNN Article: http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/03/technology/microsoft_yahoo/

Hasta la Vista (Microsoft) Baby!

Vista ... Yes, see you later... not now. I am better off with my X(P)!

I begin this post with an entertaining and quite telling video "Don't Give Up on Vista" Ad created by Apple Mac. [Embedded from YouTube]



Why do we hear everywhere only wrong things about Vista? I would have liked to believe, it was just me ... but I guess, this is not the case!

Microsoft does a good job, pushing the latest release of its software by bundling them with affiliated hardwares. Microsoft's, age long and by far marketing's one of the most successful product introduction strategy has helped Microsoft Sales... enumerous times.

However, if the product being introduced and pushed (read forcefully) to users is not yet ready, then this can have a catapult effect. Since, windows 95 all MS products have been released on later dates than announced and have been buggy. This has been talked about so much that probably users (and even MS developers) have started considering bugs as product features. But, with Vista it is not just about bugs - it is about pushing a product with new design, significantly changed interface without user's consent. Just when we thought, we are doing well with XP, the Vista unsettled us.

First, IT department installed Vista on all office PC's - I guess it was because keeping up with the latest MS release makes licensing and updates easier (another MS Strategy). Next, when I went to buy a new PC only a week or so after Vista was launched, none of the retailers carried a PC with XP. I had to adjust to the Vista Life at my home PC. Later, when I ordered my Laptop online, I made sure to check the appropriate Windows OS (yes, XP) for the laptop. Here again, Vista was the default selection. It sounds funny, because, in most places, I would prefer getting the most recent release of a product -fight to get it. But, with Vista, I am way too apprehensive.

Today, when I read this blog "Walking Off Into the Vista" on the New York Times, I felt I most definitely am not alone in agonizing.

Few days back I had written that competion for the online collaboration and enterprise application market is very engaging and it would be worthwhile to see how Microsoft responds to already leading players like Google and IBM. I also wondered then, how would Google be successful in converting MS Office users to Google Docs... As much as I see user's sentiments about Vista, I am made to belive that Google need not do a lot, Microsoft will do that for Google!

Having said that, I still believe that Microsoft will respond aptly to all these challenges. My bet is still on the Redmond dwellers.