Yahoo! Google! AOL! Oh my.

I haven’t written in a while because I’ve been more or less completely consumed with various academic work, other intern work, and the vast enjoyment of sleep and the art of napping. But here is a quite thought provoking post that I will just re-word for you briefly because Michael Arrington said it well and good enough—

Maya: Yahoo and Google sitting in a tree? Anticompetitive k-i-s-s-i-n-g?! And Microsoft left behind, with only the sympathy of Newscorp to make it feel all better? What is goin on?

From this TC post, Michael Arrington writes:

“Yesterday Yahoo made two announcements/leaks. First, that they were very close to agreeing to terms that would combine Yahoo and AOL as an alternative to the Microsoft deal. And second, that they will run, ahem, a two week test of Google Adsense on 3% of their Yahoo search results page, instead of their own ads.

Microsoft responded that the Google deal is a precursor to handing over de facto monopoly power of the search advertising space. And they threw their own curve ball as well: News Corp. has switched teams and is now in Microsoft’s camp.

The formal entry of AOL into the discussions suggests Time Warner wants to offload the asset soon. If a Microsoft/Yahoo deal goes through, the only realistic suitor for AOL is Google, and that gives them little negotiating leverage.

The News Corp news is more interesting. In a move reminiscent of the Italians switching sides in World War II, they’ve abandoned their Yahoo soul mate for a more compliant Microsoft. They put in a bid for Yahoomore), which was reportedly countered just a couple of weeks ago. My guess is the counter offer wasn’t very interesting, so they switched sides. You gotta love News Corp., they’re always there for you when they need you. in February (

But by far the most interesting news is the Yahoo/Google alliance. Industry insiders still question whether regulators would allow the deal, but Yahoo’s been whispering around Silicon Valley that a business partnership with Google, as opposed to a merger, would stand a much higher likelihood of getting approved.”

Yahoo would rather give up search to long time competitor Google than get absorbed by Microsoft. Really? Its that bad? What an interesting tech geek soap opera this is.

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beautiful search babies!