Company death match or just a weird week in the Market?
Microsoft fails to buys Yahoo, Google sells off a bit, and Murdoch smiles.
Google not going anywhere: Any company whose name becomes a common noun or verb sticks around. It's called a proprietary eponym. Kleenex. Frigidaire (yep, they're still around). Xerox. Band-Aid. Muzak.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I just can't picture a future where Internet search (or Internet anything) is dominated by Yahoo. Can you?
Microsoft -- you've gotta give them credit for trying. First a big chunk of Facebook, now Yahoo. It helps to have that much cash to throw around. But will it get them where they want to be? A better question is, where do they want to be? Seems like a pretty fragmented strategy.
Yahoo! has never had a clear purpose or goal. They've spread themselves thin, been down many blind alleys. Yahoo! Mail is the one product or market where they were among the first-movers AND persevered over the years. Yahoo! Merchant Services is a distant second. Yahoo web services overall show promise, but they have yet to resonate in a way that brings brand recognition, despite their prevalence.
Yahoo! needs to finally determine its goals and purpose, or they need to be acquired by someone who can GIVE them that purpose.
