BTW, blogging is not a team activity. Just thought I’d note that to your colleagues.

Fwiw here is a “fag packet” analysis, you gets it here first ;)

- most industries do stably exist with a “big 3″ where No 1 gets a lot of the loot, so I see no industry rationale per se
- MSFT of the big 3 has the biggest need to shift position as its old (and far larger) cash cow is declining, so that is probably the strategic driver to beef up here
- Its a good time to take out Yahoo – market and company sentiment is at low ebb
- Personally, I don’t think its that dumb for MSFT to do this, in fact I’m quite encouraged that they are being so bold – but execution is the issue in these cases as to making it work, and that will be hard, they are totally different businesses and cultures. AOL/Time Warner did not work at all for these reasons

It’s not the first company Microsoft has acquired. Nor the last I suspect.

I was with Wang as they acquired two companies in succession before being bought by Getronics. The biggest problems there, as in most such acquisitions is consolidating duplicate functions and dealing with the human relations nightmares of layoffs, job shuffling and terminations.

I don’t see Microsoft having any problems with Yahoo other than the expected media barbs and criticisms.

No matter what anyone says this will change the SEO industry and give Google something to think more seriously about. Microsoft usually enters the field last and in 2-3 years and revisions the product becomes popular, It is their history from my viewpoint.