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AOL and Yahoo! to merge their internet operations?
If the deal goes through, the two companies would combine their web and internet based services. AOL's old school ISP services would not be part of the deal, which would value AOL at $10 billion. Yahoo! would reportedly use some of the revenue from a merger with Time Warner/AOL to buy back a whole bunch of stock which woudl help the company fend off any further unwanted advances from Microsoft.
The upshot of a possible partnership or merger is that people will stop picking on AOL for copying Yahoo!'s homepage design. The downside is that a merged company could conceivably be called AOwho? OK, probably not. We for one welcome our new Yahoo! overlords anyway.
Comments
10
Subscribe to commentsrobotrockApr 9th 2008 10:45PM
I'd welcome them too if it didn't mean even MORE layoffs. It's my own fault for not leaving on my own accord I suppose....
Danny MendezApr 9th 2008 11:18PM
As a weblogs inc blogger, I'm not sure what to think of this...
QuikboyApr 10th 2008 7:58AM
Not to be rude DS, but I don't think Y! + AOL will have much of a future.
At least with with Y! + WinLive/MSN, there was a good chance of something successful coming out by pairing the best of the two together.
WinLive has the overall better search, better ID management, the mapping technology, and the flexible WLM client. Combine that with Y!'s Flickr, very friendly UI, neat improvements to their Mail service, and you really have a compelling combo.
But what does AOL have that's really worth it to Y!? The only thing that I get from AOL is just AIM (which there are way better clients than this!) and some of their Weblogs Inc. blogs. Honestly. But most of the "new" redone AOL services/content is a mere copy of Y!.
I really don't see any benefits that Y! hopes to gain with AOL. With MS, you get the $42 billion, and the hopes that the best of both worlds can become one. With AOL, there really isn't a future, and that's it. If this happens, it will be a sure sad day for Y! users. Even the usual M$ hater should think twice about this.
robotrockApr 10th 2008 9:58AM
Don't worry, you aren't rude, just ignorant.
I understand where you are coming from though. Most consumers think of AOL as a dial-up service who sends out spam and leaks out personal information. This is a fair judgment of AOL - about 7 years ago.
Now AOL owns one of the largest third party ad networks in the world and it's ads (through ad.com) reaches over 80% of Americans.
You may not like Mapquest or TMZ or any of the other dozen or so products that AOL is leading or in a close race for top position with, but they ARE popular and they do make money.
I think Yahoo!/AOL deal makes sense even if I might get laid off because of it. At least Yahoo's executive team seem genuinely invested in the company unlike AOL's who seem to want only to pad their resumes.
MarkyApr 10th 2008 7:59AM
This sounds good. Microsoft's tactics show it for what it is, an aggressive bully with few morals that dislikes any competition.
The Yahoo! and AOL deal sounds good to me. There is much that each other has which could be rebuilt into a single brand over time but the question is whose brand? Both are strong but both have been weakened in the recent years.
No doubt the politburo at Microsoft are fuming over this and the advertising deal with Google also being experimented with.
QuikboyApr 10th 2008 7:58AM
Not to be rude, but what compelling things does AOL have to offer?
And I disagree about the way you use tactics to describe what MS is doing. MS has already offered a VERY large amount of money to Y!, an amount far exceeding what Y! is actually valued at. Y! has been very greedy, and has asked for even more.
At the same time, shareholders, MS, worried employees, users, and among many others are waiting for Y! to accept the deal and get it over with. The deal makes perfect sense, but Y! trying to hold back would be foolish to most people.
Development from both sides is slowing down, for the inevitable merger to come alive, and it will take an even longer time for new projects to get finished and released to users. Many people want Y! to go ahead and go with the deal, but Yang's not listening to the people.
markrichApr 10th 2008 7:59AM
I think you're coming from the 'take the money and run' position. What worries most people is the lack of competition and Microsoft's tactics and the way they simply buy what they cannot do themselves. Innovation is not something M$ are good at. Their own alternative MSN, Windows Live, and then MSN again seems muddled and without focus. They can't even agree month to month what it's called. Only Hotmail is used by most people.
Yahoo! has managed to build a world brand and now when it's just managing to pull itself up from a slump it's being bullied by M$. Give us your company or else is their behaviour here. Yahoo! has to survive to continue competition in a world already stiffled by M$. It may be playing second fiddle to Google in search engine and advertising but it has the potential and products to grow with the right investment of time and effort. M$ should spend more of their money making their own product better rather than killing the competition and absorbing them into their business.
This action of Microsoft is harming their already dented reputation.
MarkyApr 10th 2008 5:06AM
I think you're coming from the 'take the money and run' position. What worries most people is the lack of competition and Microsoft's tactics and the way they simply buy what they cannot do themselves. Innovation is not something M$ are good at. Their own alternative MSN, Windows Live, and then MSN again seems muddled and without focus. They can't even agree month to month what it's called. Only Hotmail is used by most people.
Yahoo! has managed to build a world brand and now when it's just managing to pull itself up from a slump it's being bullied by M$. Give us your company or else is their behaviour here. Yahoo! has to survive to continue competition in a world already stiffled by M$. It may be playing second fiddle to Google in search engine and advertising but it has the potential and products to grow with the right investment of time and effort. M$ should spend more of their money making their own product better rather than killing the competition and absorbing them into their business.
This action of Microsoft is harming their already dented reputation.
the other oneApr 10th 2008 8:01AM
if i was going to call it anything it would have been y'aol
wondering 1334Apr 10th 2008 9:34AM
i went to AOL as i didnt like Yahoo and I felt the same way about MS.Guess its a no win leave MS and Yahoo on their own .Aol please no more changes.MONEY?????