Good Question: Should Microsoft Buy Yahoo?

Great, informative post by Bruce Eckel on the possibility of a Microsoft / Yahoo venture: Should Microsoft Buy Yahoo? Eckel starts with a great line "I read somewhere that over half of acquisitions fail. I think the percentage may much higher than half. " I think he's right about the percentage being higher, but maybe it just sounds right. The article proceeds to outline two past big-name acquisitions like "Borland buys Ashton-Tate" and "HP buys Compaq", and then tackles the current potential big buy - "Microsoft might buy Yahoo":

And that's really the point. Maybe Yahoo has some fraction of the market now, and maybe they will recover in 2009, but right now they're kind of a failing company. What is a hostile takeover by Microsoft going to do for that? Is Microsoft going to manage them back to health? It seems unlikely that the "maybe 2009" recovery will happen sooner after a hostile takeover. And the really big question: Microsoft already has an Internet division: MSN. But they haven't been able to make that go anywhere. Yahoo made a good start at the beginning of the Web revolution, but then got stuck and faltered. Why on earth would combining the talents of Microsoft MSN and Yahoo produce anything other than more stumbling around in the dark? Which company would lead this recovery? At least Yahoo managed to make a strong start on the Web before driving into the weeds. But no, it would be the company that takes over, Microsoft, who brought us both MSN and Windows Vista. How does combining a failing company (Yahoo) and a failed division of Microsoft (MSN) produce a successful division of Microsoft?

Read more here: http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=224113

I think the last question is a great one - "How does combining a failing company (Yahoo) and a failed division of Microsoft (MSN) produce a successful division of Microsoft?", and many more excellent questions, potential answers and information abound throughout the article. Be sure to check it out!

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