Microsoft and Yahoo: Merger of the Desperate?
Rumors of a brewing $50 billion deal appeared in papers like the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times over the weekend. Of course, the retired circus monkeys and I that work for Militant Geek don’t read any of those. We instead heard in a round-about manner from Valleywag.
But why now? One banker quoted in the Post said “They’re getting tired of being left at the altar.” That certainly may be true but both companies are profitable. Both could certainly continue doing what they do for many years to come. If they do merge they take both unsexy, yet functional fiefdoms and carelessly toss them into a thicket of tough questions: will they iron out the operational kinks quick enough to react to nimble competition? What will happen to their two distinctly different search operations? And, most importantly, how soon will the new company kill the Zune?
