YHOO and MSFT

Fred Wilson — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:34:25 -0700

This is the soap opera drama that won't go away. Every time you think you've heard the last of it, it comes back again

The latest is a WSJ report just out that says Microsoft is trying to rope in big media partners like News Corp and Time Warner to make another bid for Yahoo!

Apparently Microsoft wants the search business badly and can't stomache losing it to Google. That makes sense

It seems they are less in love with the other parts of Yahoo! and are exploring some kind of 'carving up' of Yahoo! with other big media companies

This conjures up images of the wounded animal being devoured by a pack of wild animals

It also is very much the result of Google's market power. Somehow a breakup of Yahoo! is seen by these 'wild animals' as the way to balance the market and make it easier to compete with Google

I don't see that happening but I do see Yahoo! going away at this point

I've wanted Yahoo! to stay independent and restructure and be relevant again

But it sure feels like that's not going to happen. Wall street has spoken with its trading of YHOO below $20 yesterday and if Microsoft is back at the table with a bigger pile of money, then its probably the time for the end game

Its a shame for Yahoo! and I suspect that Microsoft and its partners (if they play ball) will not get much out of this whole mess.

But the writing sure does seem like its on the wall for Yahoo! now