ResourcePad Blog

Microsoft’s recent $44.2 billion bid to take over Yahoo! has been making the routine shock waves around the technological world. This is huge, and analyst heavyweights have been weighing in on how this could impact the Internet world.

Of course the implications are huge, but does this mean that Microsoft has finally accepted the fact that alone, it isn’t enough of a champion to provide even a hint of competition to Google’s search engine junta, capturing over 60% of the market share? Even if the merger goes through, though in all likelihood it will–the bid is 60% higher than the price of Yahoo!’s current stock value–the union will only guarantee them about 16% of the share, according to reports by BusinessWeek.

Google is naturally doing everything it can to stop the deal from going through, going as far as to say it would be damaging for competition, although Microsoft’s arguably suitably worded response, was that with Google dominating current market share, it might actually be a good thing.

Where will the FCC and EU weigh on such a merger if Yahoo! does indeed agree to be bought out now that it’s no longer the “golden child” of the Internet startup world?

Of course, aside from the obvious business implications, there are other things to consider: like how well the merger will actually go through, taking the people factor into consideration. For instance, the cultures of the two companies are widely different and critics have cited this point as being among the key opposition factors against the deal. But on in depth analysis, the companies’ core beliefs are the same and they share the important selling point: they both want to topple Google. Badly.

But looking back over the technology mergers over the years, things have never turned out particularly well from Time Warner’s acquisition of America Online (the rumor mill’s in overdrive over the fact that they are now looking to sell), HP’s trouble filled acquisition of Compaq, etc. Adding more fuel to the fire is the possibility of Google acquiring AOL which will basically leave Microsoft and Google standing in the ring, on the presumption that Yahoo! will be folded into the giant.

The answer to the question of who will remain standing in the long drawn out struggle between the software giant and the online world demigod, is up in the air but as things stand now, Google seems to be leading the pack with an astonishing distance between itself and its “competition”.

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