Microsoft is bidding for Yahoo. It has offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion in cash and shares. The offer, contained in a letter to Yahoo’s board, is 62% above Yahoo’s closing share price yesterday. Yahoo cut its revenue forecasts earlier this week and said it would have to spend an additional $300m this year trying to revive the company.
Microsoft’s intent smacks of desperation as it tries to retain some preeminence in computing. Its operating system still keeps the company alive, but its technology is lagging behind that of rivals, expecially in the open source space. Its forays into entertainment are working, but this is not a sector where they can claim excellence or pioneering work.
Our big concern, however, is the danger that MS culture will take over Yahoo, which has provided a far more open and honest search engine than Google. Google’s privacy policy and ownership should be an issue for all internet users – that is why Yahoo is referenced on astraea.net rather than google.
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