People Search Digest

Like a psycho ex-girlfriend who won’t take the hint, Microsoft is still attempting to worm its way into Yahoo’s affections, despite having been humiliatingly dumped by the struggling search company for a relationship with the more attractive Google.

News has surfaced that Microsoft is continuing negotiations with Yahoo for a total buyout (off the record, naturally). Why Microsoft is swallowing its pride now, whereas before it probably would have crushed Yahoo like a fly remains a mystery. Our guess is that it’s because Microsoft recognizes that if it lets Yahoo get away, Google will eat them - and all other budding search companies - alive, with or without Yahoo’s help.

It’s very clear now that Microsoft is struggling in its third place position; its tactics make that obvious. But just because Yahoo is being batted around like a tennis ball doesn’t mean it’s going to end up on the winning team in the end. With their stock continuing to drop rapidly, the time is ripe for Yahoo to merge with anyone and Microsoft figures, Why not us?.

So why not Microsoft?

One major point working against Microsoft is the contractual language put forth in the Google-Yahoo agreement. If Microsoft attempts to purchase more than 35% of Yahoo, they will be forced to pay Google $250 million dollars. However, if they hover around 15%, Yahoo can terminate the deal and Google gets nothing. But why would Yahoo want to do that? Because their board of directors is in shambles? Because CEO Jerry Yang is still enamored with Google? Because Carl Icahn’s an asshat?

Ultimately the complicated chess playing going on between the 3 companies amounts to little in the normal world. The real question for the rest of us small-timey folks is how will Microsoft and Yahoo, if they do merge, even begin to compete with Google (which, after all, still has technology superior to both of theirs)? And if Yahoo and Microsoft do merge, how will Google manage with the newly emboldened behemoth it attempted to cut off at the knees with a search advertising offer?

One can only hope that after all the dust from this massive fracas has settled, the future of the search engine will still lie in the hands of developers on the ground and not in the heads of suits who hide behind boardroom doors and don’t even know what a semantic search is.

By Mariana M.