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| quote: | Google May Try To Stop Microsoft From 'Taking Over The Internet' With Yahoo Bid
Monday February 4, 2008
The soap opera that was the biggest big business deal of last week continued over the weekend, with a new cast of characters. But who you think is the hero or the villain depends a lot of which channel you're watching.
Search engine giant Google is warning the business and computer worlds that a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo, proposed by the software giant on Friday, would be an attempt to get "illegal control" of the worldwide web.
The statement came from the Google's top lawyer, in the company's first response to the ground breaking move. "Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions," writes David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, on the company's blog. "This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation."
The dynamic duo has tried to work together in the past, but nothing could be finalized. So in a sudden change of tactics, Microsoft offered $44.6 billion for its would-be-partner on Friday, far above what the search engine portal's stock was worth.
Google, which has been unstoppable in its rampage on gaining market and ad share in the online world, sees the combination as a real danger to its own bottom line, although it's presenting that challenge as a perilous one to you.
It claims a Microsoft-owned Yahoo would stifle innovation and force Windows-oriented programs and interfaces on everyone with its tremendous clout, most notably in the area of email and instant messaging (IM). And it points to the infamous anti-trust suit the Redmond, Washington giant is still trying to deal with as a result of pushing its Internet Explorer browser on computer owners.
"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?" Drummond wonders.
Bill Gates' behemoth counters that the two firms make a perfect fit and it's the only solution to stop the Google juggernaut. And it denies it would have too much clout. "Microsoft is committed to openness, innovation, and the protection of privacy on the Internet," assures company lawyer Brad Smith. "We believe that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo will advance these goals."
A combined entity will still only give both a 16 percent share of the world Internet search market. Google remains king of the virtual hill with 62 per cent, according to comScore Media Metrix, which measures usage. But both the former pair remain far ahead in email and IM, both lucrative areas, and would likely be able to crush Google's plans to move ahead with its own version of those cash cows.
So what do experts think will happen? Many feel that with Yahoo's stock already depressed, Microsoft will win the fight to acquire it, while Google tries to delay it as long as possible by playing the anti-trust card again.
Another scenario? Google could make a play for Yahoo itself to keep it out of Microsoft's clutches. But that might not work either, raising anti-trust implications of its own.
For now, Yahoo remains non-committal. "We want to emphasize that absolutely no decisions have been made," execs wrote in an internal memo to worried employees on Friday. "And, despite what some people have tried to suggest, there's certainly no integration process underway."
Looks like this soap opera may need a name. How about "Search" For Tomorrow? |
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