The MS/Yahoo Delusion
Maybe CEOs shouldn't make strategic decisions - at least if they're as far removed from reality as Steve Ballmer. Here he is on a presumed MS/Yahoo deal:
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Thursday that he thinks a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo Inc. would still "make sense economically" for both companies shareholders.
Yeah, only if you assume no integration issues. Back here in the real world (speaking as someone who watched such an integration attempt up close), it's a lot more difficult. Yahoo's technology stack is radically different than Microsoft's; if you believe that MS would grab Yahoo, and then keep that technology stack running as is, you're delusional.
Any merger of MS and Yahoo will be filled with pain. The fact that Ballmer thinks otherwise indicates that he's been promoted well past his level of competence.
Comments
moneys where their mouths are
[Wynn Dozer] October 16, 2008 19:37:45.406
But if MS has been telling the truth about their lower TCO and ease of use and etc. then there really should be no problem switching Yahoo over to dogfood.
Microsoft can do well by acquiring Yahoo!
[forexthinker.com] October 17, 2008 4:56:55.348
Microsoft will certainly do well if it acquires Yahoo. Some of the reasons are: A great brand name on the Internet that is well established since the mid 1990s, users like me who are accustomed to doing a Yahoo search in addition to doing searches using Google, MSN, Ask.com and other search engines, and a Web site with popular features like geocities, Yahoo games, and chat. In addition to 275 million Yahoo e-mail users around the world.
Almost as much fun...
[Tom K] October 17, 2008 10:57:37.563
There's also the rumour floating that Microsoft might acquire RIM, makers of the ever-popular BlackBerry. That would lead to some more great tecnology indigestion - Windows Mobile on the Bold? How about Microsoft having to start developing Java applications?