Is Apple Really Considering Buying Yahoo?
Posted on Feb 4, 08 10:25 AM PDT
A report from Scotland On Sunday mentioned that Apple and News Corp were considering bids to buy Yahoo and that Yahoo’s management would prefer to be rescued by Apple rather than Microsoft.
If Microsoft was to buy Yahoo, it would bring its “Search” market share from 4% up to… 17%. The issue is that the combination of both companies might not make their respective search algorithms better than Google’s, at least not anytime soon. The question is: how would a buyer add value to Yahoo?
Although anything can happen, there seem to be much more downside for Apple than upside, if it were to rescue Yahoo. If Apple can’t turn Yahoo, it would be an incredible drag on the whole company – not worth the risk in my opinion, but hey, may be Apple can rename Yahoo “iYahoo”, make it shiny and bring shareholder value. What do you think?
Update 2/4 4:28pm PT: Rupert Murdoch confirmed that News Corp won’t make a bid for Yahoo. Analysts expect the Microsoft bid for Yahoo to be approved by the regulators.
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Legacy Comments
By makessense , 11/02/08 9:17 AM (CommentID #478510)
Can you imagine an enterprise -even Microsoft- wasting $44b for a zero-value company????
Believe me, if MS is willing to pay that for Yahoo!, it is so because it worths well.
I recognize that risk is high, but the potential of some Yahoo! units (Zimbra, Flikr, Mail, even music!) integrated in Apple .Mac is infinite.
The key is web 2.0. Apple should make a move.
By Big Funkin Polar Bear , 05/02/08 8:51 AM (CommentID #466965)
The possibilities do spark my imagination, even if it's highly unlikely. iTunes+yahoo media search integration! Full Yahoo services for iPhone and AppleTV 2! GarageBand+iWork as online apps available on any webbrowser. On the negative side- Apple would basically become Microsoft II,and probably just as restrictive and abusive.
By marco fiorelli , 04/02/08 10:04 PM (CommentID #466000)
You mean Inktomi not Akamai.
If Microsoft buys Yahoo they would loose most of their Unix talent which would benefit many other valley companies.
I hope that Microsoft buys Yahoo and then chokes on it not because I have anything against Yahoo but I do dislike Microsoft and Steve Balmer needs to be knocked down a few notches.
By Reginald W , 04/02/08 8:04 PM (CommentID #465773)
There are parts of Yahoo that Apple should buy, the most important one being ZIMBRA, the open source package that seems to be a backend commuications server. I haven't used it, have only glanced at its functionality but it appears to be something that would fit quite well into OSX Server.
Most of the rest of Yahoo is well outside of the domain of Apple, other than some pieces that could add value to .mac, as has been previously suggested.
By ApAl , 04/02/08 12:29 PM (CommentID #465062)
Apple buying Yahoo would be unthinkable.
There are too many reasons to mention why this is a non starter but the main ones off the top of my head would be:
Apple and Google have a special relationship... they are allies and do not share the same market place.
Yahoo is dead... I say let Microsoft waste their dollars - there is nothing they can bring to Yahoo that would improve its market share.
I cant see anything that apple would gain. there is simply no point to it
By Rick Roberts , 04/02/08 11:46 AM (CommentID #464985)
Apple could buy it, sell off the search component, make Yahoo .mac backend, say goodbye to Akamai, integrate Flickr tightly w/iPhoto.
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