Gone with the Wind (or anti-trust objection)
Just a few minutes ago, I read on the BBC that the Google/Yahoo! advertising deal is dead. Google didn’t want a "long protracted legal battle". That just eliminated one of Jerry Yang‘s poison pills against a Microsoft deal/acquisition.
So with Steve Ballmer still thinking that a Yahoo!/Microsoft deal is a good idea and Carl Icahn on the Yahoo! board… I think Jerry Yang days are numbered and that the pressure by investors to make a deal will be too much to ignore.
The Yahoo! and Microsoft deal would make an ugly marriage, but one that will provide a balance to Google in the long run.
Below is the BBC’s story.
Google abandons deal with Yahoo
The collapse of the deal is a blow for Yahoo
Google has decided to abandon its advertising partnership with Yahoo to avoid having a "protracted legal battle" with regulators.
The deal involved Google providing some of the advertising around Yahoo’s search results.
It was originally announced in June but has faced anti-trust objections.
It is a blow for Yahoo, which is struggling to placate shareholders who were annoyed about its rejection of a takeover offer from Microsoft.
Yahoo’s management has been under pressure since rejecting the $33 a share offer, which valued the company at $47.5bn (£29.4bn). Yahoo shares were trading at $14 each on Wednesday.
Google said it would not allow the prospect of a legal battle to distract it from its core mission.
"That would be like trying to drive down the road of innovation with the parking brake on," Google said in a blog.
So what do you think is next?
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