Microsoft puts in $44.6b offer for Yahoo!

by Chris Dawson

This post was written in February 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Microsoft has today shaken up the rumours over who will acquire who this year with an offer of almost half a trillion dollars for Yahoo!

The real question is, if the offer is accepted, how it will change the landscape of ecommerce shopping. There have been rumours about a possible merger of eBay and Yahoo!, especially as Yahoo! have been closing their shopping sites in recent times.

eBay are lacking search and rely on companies like Yahoo!, Google and MSN for traffic. Yahoo!, Google and MSN all have search, but largely are not destination sites where transactions take place. In the middle are a myriad of shopping comparison sites which direct transactions from buyers Internet searches to merchants ecommerce websites.

Into the mix throw increased competition from Amazon who go from strength to strength, along with merchants own ecommerce websites and any merger is going to affect online sellers to some extent.

Although Google is the undisputed leader in search, including paid search, a joint Microsoft/Yahoo! partnership could become a real contender. Competing for the paid search from comparison sites and destination sites such as eBay is all about the return on investment. Many merchants have found success with Yahoo! relative to Google as there is less competition and thus lower cost to buy keywords in paid search.

Historically Microsoft were late to embrace Internet, for them acquiring Yahoo! will gain a well established, respected brand. One thing is for sure a Microsoft/Yahoo! merger could bring benefits for buyers, advertisers and publishers, as well as giving Google a bigger competitor to keep them on their toes.

Tags for this post: , ,
Author: Chris Dawson
Posted at: Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Filed Under News
 

Comments

12 Responses to “Microsoft puts in $44.6b offer for Yahoo!”

  1. The Grammar Police on February 1st, 2008 1:37 pm

    Who will acquire *whom*, you mean :lol:

  2. Jade on February 1st, 2008 2:06 pm

    No chance of getting bored when trading on the tinternet is there?

    Just think some companies employ “Change Managers” (what pointless expense!) When trading or making a living from the great “cloud”, no two minutes are the same! Personally I luv it, whom’ll :???: be the tinernet leader at the end of 2009 or June 2008 for that matter :shock:

  3. northumbrian on February 1st, 2008 2:45 pm

    You guessed it

    :idea: MY BRAIN HURTS :idea:

  4. Chris Dawson on February 1st, 2008 2:53 pm

    PMSL

    :razz: @ North

  5. Lizard Wisdom on February 1st, 2008 3:13 pm

    My math may be a bit fuzzy this early in the morning, but I don’t think $44.6 billion is anywhere near half a trillion dollars. :neutral:

  6. whirly on February 1st, 2008 3:23 pm

    My brain hurts now :shock:

  7. Chris Dawson on February 1st, 2008 3:23 pm

    Oops you’re perfectly correct

    *goes back to grammar and maths class*

  8. Mark Classic on February 1st, 2008 3:54 pm

    Ebay and Amazon must be eyeing each other up now as well, I really get the sense that Ebay are getting a little frightened of Amazon.

    Hence the Amazonesque (that might be a new word) type changes to feedback etc.

    We have all been looking for competition to stand up against Ebay, but how many of us ever expected that to be Amazon?

    It will be an interesting year as Ebay try to encourage its seller base back.

    What is also interesting is that many voices in the community predicted this would happen last year when all the “bad” changes (in my opinion) came in.

    The small seller buys…

    Get rid of the small seller and you lose a buyer.

    I think this is what has been happening to Ebay, although I suspect the greater issue at the moment is Amazon.

    I wonder when Ebay will bring out their version of zshops (is that what Amazons shops are?).

    I still think they missed a trick with mif.

    That would have been a great way forward for the sellers, whilst Ebay retained a large customer base.

    Anyway, have a good weekend folks. :-)

    Mark

  9. Sue Bailey on February 1st, 2008 3:58 pm

    Hmm. I’ve been trading on eBay since 2000. Every single time something on eBay has changed, in all that time, people have said that eBay are trying to get rid of the small seller. It just ain’t true. And it certainly won’t happen. Individual small sellers might get fed up and leave, but there’ll be another dozen along in a minute. And lets face it, I wouldn’t let a customer who spends a fiver a week with me tell me how to run my business, so why would eBay be any different.

  10. northumbrian on February 1st, 2008 6:26 pm

    my daughter in law who now cant work because she has produced another brat to suckle on my wallet , has just started ebay and shes in heaven , she can look after the little darling full time and make her wages, theres trillions out there doing the same, put quite ebay simply ebay is here forever

  11. eBay buying AOL? : TameBay on February 5th, 2008 10:34 am

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