Exit Stage Right?
So, the mega ‘deal’ that Yahoo! struck with Google to get Microsoft off its back has backfired, or if not backfired, at least ‘back-burnered’. Adviking is not one to miss a chance to get on a soapbox, however before we crack open the bubbly and mull over anti-trust issues of market dominance… we can’t help but feel, regardless of press releases and articles to the contrary, that it leaves Yahoo! on the sidelines and Google smirking at the flimsiness of the competition.
Will Microsoft return to the table? They envy the Yahoo! search traffic for sure, but as Social Media starts to gain more leverage and prominence, will Yahoo! properties lose their lustre somewhat? Their mail app is generally considered to be class-leading (much to Google’s chagrin), but what else have they got?
We can’t help but feel that this will be the case… Google got the Yahoogle out of there and has abandoned ‘Junior’ and, for all the credibility Jerry Yang has left, it can only be a matter of time before there are more movements in this space.
As always, we’ll be watching. In a few years will Yahoo! be Ya-who?
AdViking 
@johnergo – Ya-who – So funny
And now for more pain at Ya-who-I-pitty-da-poor-fools as the stock drops close to $10 per share. Good piece about this on BoomTown.
http://kara.allthingsd.com/20081112/yahoo-stock-drops-close-to-the-perilous-10-mark-uh-oh/
So, when will MSFT buy it? My bet is they wait, I would. Let Obama take office and a few more bad advertising quarters sinkin and then buy it next summer for a bargain. What do you think?
@dylanfuller
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10083403-36.html is video of Jerry Yang at recent Web2.0 summit where he talks about the deal.
Icahn has come and said MSFT should make an offer now: http://management.silicon.com/itdirector/0,39024673,39337809,00.htm
And Ballmer rejects making an offer: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/11/microsofts-ballmer-not-interested-in-being-yahoos-first-runner-up.html
So, all said and done, I think Kara Swisher has it right, when she pegs Jerry and Steve as Rachel and Ross from Friends. http://kara.allthingsd.com/20081107/yang-and-ballmer-play-ross-and-rachel-and-it-is-just-as-annoying-as-the-tv-show/
In reality all a bit of noise, I would think if a deal is going to go down, it’s probably not going to be 3 quarters down the road. That is, if MSFT search business doesn’t grow as much as needed and yet, display bottoms out then I’m thinking you could see a Q1 09 deal go down.