The merger of the century

Random notes and links on the Microsoft bid for Yahoo ...

... As the day unfolds, Phase 2 of coverage will kick in for tomorrow morning's news cycle, and the focus will be on how this deal would actually work. Wait. It's already begun. Writes a BusinessWeek blogger:

But what a messy combination this will be, for months and even years to come. Maybe Yahoo is just too compelling a property for Microsoft, perennially struggling to stem the Google tide, to pass up. Clearly, Yahoo hasn't managed to get its act together fast enough. But neither has Microsoft – even less so vs. Google than Yahoo.
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Keep those PowerPoint slides simple!

Random notes and links on the Microsoft bid for Yahoo ...

... As the day unfolds, Phase 2 of coverage will kick in for tomorrow morning's news cycle, and the focus will be on how this deal would actually work. Wait. It's already begun. Writes a BusinessWeek blogger:

But what a messy combination this will be, for months and even years to come. Maybe Yahoo is just too compelling a property for Microsoft, perennially struggling to stem the Google tide, to pass up. Clearly, Yahoo hasn't managed to get its act together fast enough. But neither has Microsoft – even less so vs. Google than Yahoo.

Random notes and links on the Microsoft bid for Yahoo ...

... As the day unfolds, Phase 2 of coverage will kick in for tomorrow morning's news cycle, and the focus will be on how this deal would actually work. Wait. It's already begun. Writes a BusinessWeek blogger:

But what a messy combination this will be, for months and even years to come. Maybe Yahoo is just too compelling a property for Microsoft, perennially struggling to stem the Google tide, to pass up. Clearly, Yahoo hasn't managed to get its act together fast enough. But neither has Microsoft – even less so vs. Google than Yahoo. And putting together two huge organizations like this is going to slow both down for a long time, while the Google juggernaut merrily barrels down the road, more focused than its competitor. What's more, big tech mergers often don't work. Even less often do hostile takeovers work. Put them together, and the results won't be pretty. Yahoo has already been losing lots of people, and while some may welcome the relative stability of Microsoft, I'm not sure it's those people who will be the most valuable going forward. Google, Facebook, and a raft of startups will have even sweeter pickings among restless Yahoos.

Right. How do you merge two companies that both have major Internet portals, both have search platforms, both have large advertising platforms, both have unique and flawed cultures, are headquartered in different states? Remember when Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas? It took years to realize savings from consolidation of overhead, and those two companies had comparatively little overlap in products. ...

... The good news for Seattle Times beat reporter Brier Dudley is he was right, Microsoft was finally going to announce a bid for Yahoo. The bad news is Brier didn't think it would happen until he returned from a hiatus next week ...

... When Microsoft briefs the media and analysts on a big deal like this, what software do they use? PowerPoint! Please note how simple they kept it – seven pages, only a few bullet points per page ...

... It was one of those situations where in the early going no one could touch The Associated Press – it's what they do, jump on big breaking news and update it every few minutes. Plus, when you link to an AP story on the Yahoo News site, the same link is automatically refreshed with what's known in the business as a "writethru," a new version of the same story with changes throughout. So for Top of the News this morning, that's who I linked to. ...

  

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