It's hard to tell how big of a deal it would be if Microsoft buys Yahoo. You see, Yahoo's old search platform, Overture, used to power MSN Search. Anyone remember a couple of years ago when Yahoo's search totals took a huge dive? I mean the really big dive, not the other big ones. You see, much of that was due to the loss of the MSN contract. It wasn't that people stopped using Yahoo so much as it was that Yahoo could no longer count MSN's numbers towards their own totals.If Microsoft buys up Yahoo, this is likely to reverse trend. Anyone that has used Live Search, the engine that powers MSN Search, then you already know how much of an improvement this could be. I am like many people in that I do not care for Microsoft adCenter. The interface is not user friendly, and the documentation leaves a lot to be desired. Yahoo, now powered by Panama, could simply resume powering MSN Search. That would make one less stop to make when managing pay-per-click campaigns and it would be easier.
Of course, if Microsoft is unsuccessful at buying Yahoo then the remaining players would most likely be Apple, Google, or no one at all. Yahoo and Apple together would be awesome. My Yahoo combined with iTunes? There's some marketing power. What if Google bought Yahoo? It's hard to imagine the government allowing such a merger for monopoly reasons. But hey, Google is becoming the future Skynet (and probably will be once they complete their search for Sarah Connor!). Heck, AOL could even jump in and show Yahoo how mismanagement is really done.
I think Yahoo would be making a bad choice if they stayed put, but I thought the same thing when Nintendo turned down Microsoft's buyout offer for their game console biz. Nintendo knew they had a core market that was profitable. They only needed to change the way they operated. Then again, how likely is it that Yahoo could replicate the success of the Wii?
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