MicroHoo!

Update:
Charlene Li of Forrester provides an analysys.

Yup.  Microsoft is currently in merger talks with Yahoo! as I write this.  So we could potentially have MicroHoo! and my guess is that Google is watching this closely.  This is a bit out of my territory so I really don't have a POV on this other than to offer the following observation: 

I recently watched an interview with Lee Iacocca who was discussing his new book "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"  In the interview Iacocca says that his biggest regret was putting a successor in place who would then architect the Daimler-Chrysler merger.  I'm not a businessman, so I don't know if this merger was a good business move or not, but I do find it interesting that as Iacocca examines his legacy—he offers this up as possibly his biggest regret in life.

Well, I guess we'll have to see where this all goes.

Comments

[Madhu]

This is what losing companies do. I think it would become -

MicroWho ??

This not because Microsoft + Yahoo can bring more value to customers (sure way to kill innovation). It is attempt to postpone the inevitable - unless Microsoft does what Intel did when it transformed from Memory chip maker to a CPU maker.

The winner is Goldman Sachs (and like...)

[Tim Jackson]

I'm not sure what it means either. I mean, Yahoo has been getting slapped around by Google for years anyway. Web browsers, like Firefox, are also killing Internet Explorer, so Microsquish is feeling the heat.

Ultimately, all of these reductions in consumer/ user choice is a bad thing. Without competitive innovation, we all lose as things become terribly stagnant.

[Scott McArthur]

It's an interesting one this and I tend to agree that it is a reaction to them both loosing out on key segments of the marketplace. I'd like to see stronger blog platforms and IM services emerge but I'm not holding by breath!

[Andy Didyk]

I've heard many people who tout the Daimler-Chrysler merger as one of the worst business and branding moves in history. The stock experienced a brief spike, and then sank like a rock to what it is today (read: not good). From a branding perspective, it was a case of brand dilution: when you think of Mercedes, are you supposed to think of a minivan? When you think of Chrysler, are you supposed to think luxury and European styling?

With Yahoo! and Microsoft, however, it seems to be a different deal. You've got two giants of companies that both try to do everything for everyone; in other words, they are both specialists at being generalists instead of two specialists combining to become a generalist. I foresee this working well for both companies, and a natural response to Google's policy of "Invent everything useful on the web, and buy out what others have already invented."

Google is already heading down the path of becoming the portal of choice for the web, they just do it with a simple, clean design. MicroHoo! will have a lot to learn, but may find itself stronger together than apart.

[Doug Meacham]

Wait, does that mean my simple Yahoo mail program is going to start being as annoying as Vista?

[Paul McEnany]

Well, i love the idea that one slow company + another slow company somehow has a greater chance to beat one innovative one. Ain't gonna happen.

[Andy Didyk]

Paul,

To be clear, I wasn't saying that MicroHoo! would dominate Google immediately, or even at all. But the combined search engine and online traffic share of MSN and Yahoo! is very significant and would easily represent the largest threat to Google.

Anyway, my main point was that from a branding perspective, MicroHoo! could be successful, whereas the Daimler-Chrysler merger was doomed from the start.