Was Google’s flirtation with Yahoo! and effort to weaken it?
Yes. I’ve always stated that as a pure-play web company, Google - and not MSFT - is Yahoo!’s main foe.
I’ve also outlined that MSFT would be a better ally for YHOO than GOOG would, because MSFT would welcome YHOO’s web savvy whereas GOOG would not.
Of course, given YHOO CEO Jerry Yang’s disdain and dislike for MSFT, he killed a generous and rich $44.6B deal, which would have priced YHOO at $31/share.
Today, with YHOO at a paltry $15 per share (I unloaded my shares at $29/share), and the economy’s headwinds being stronger than ever, you don’t really need to ask if GOOG was sincere in its flirtations. GOOG and YHOO would have never been allowed to hook up even in an anti-regulation environment led by President Bush or an administration run by John McCain, who is always on the side of less regulation, not more… but what with the financial markets diving into the craphouse and a desire to have some regulation in driving policy, you can bet your last penny (which is what many American consumers are left with these days, by the way), that this GOOG / YHOO deal was a mirage at best, and a ploy at worst by GOOG to fully drive the last nail in YHOO’s coffin.
That David Filo and Yang, or for that matter Sue Decker and company did not realize this is worrisome, and criminal.
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