Would A Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Improve Search?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

WebProNews is reporting that Yahoo! and Microsoft are close to a deal. The deal, it appears, is a partnership, not a buyout.

Here’s the essence as I understand it:

• Microsoft could pay up to $3 billion for Yahoo!s search advertising business
• Microsoft would then share revenues from that business with Yahoo! for a few years
• Both companies would make a lot of money

OK, so technically, it’s a buyout of part of Yahoo!s business. But maybe not the most important part. It seems that Microsoft is more serious about search than Yahoo! any way. Yahoo! is more serious about other things. Here are the questions:

• Would this kind of deal improve search?
• Would the increased search share make Microsoft more competitive?
• What role did Bing play in bringing this deal down?

If you have answers, we’d like to know what you think. Our thoughts are these:

1. It very well may.
2. Yes, but not by much.
3. Some. It probably proved that Microsoft was more serious than Yahoo! about search and would eventually overtake them anyway – so why not sell?

If Carol Bartz is smart, and we think she is, she should sell to Microsoft. What do you think?