Microsoft goes all Gordon Gekko and offers 44.6 billion for Yahoo.
CNN Money writer Paul R. Monica thinks this will kick off merger mania.
The New York Times Saul Hansell calls this an offer Yahoo can’t refuse.
I’m left wondering how this merger helps either company. Let’s face it folks… the bigger, more dominant the company the less likely that company is to innovate – and innovation is what will (eventually) cause Google to lose market share.
While the combined Micro-hoo will undoubtably garner economies of scale and be more efficient that the two companies as separate entities – I’m not sure that is the best path to taking market share back from Google.
The deal will result in a massive #2 in online search and ad-revenues, but at the same time will solidify Google and Micro-hoo as the “dominant platform” (see this post on innovation and dominant platforms) in online search and ad-revenues. This should lead to another advance in the usefulness of – what us geeks call – SEO.
My only question is – are Google and Micro-hoo good enough that the market is ready to shift innovation away from the platform? I’m not completely sold.