Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 07 November 2008 12:18
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
At a business lunch in Sydney Australia, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer
firmly ruled out any Yahoo acquisition, suggested a search partnership
might still be possible and heaped scorn on search competitors,
suggesting Microsoft might “reinvent the whole darn thing”. Really?
An AAP article
published in the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Steve Ballmer talking at a Sydney business lunch, and boy did he have a lot to say!
First up, Ballmer is reported firmly rejecting Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s suggestion earlier this week that it would be in Microsoft’s “best interests” to look at acquiring Yahoo – again.
Naturally, given Yahoo’s aborted deal with Google, which would have given Google quite an insight into Yahoo’s advertising practices and its search technology, Ballmer seems to feel that acquiring Yahoo is a potential poisoned chalice.
He noted that Yahoo rejected two previous Microsoft offers, the last of which was at US $33 per share, a price that towers above Yahoo’s most recent share price of less than US $14.
Ballmer is quoted saying: “We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition. I don't know why they would be either, frankly.”
Ballmer then suggested that there might be “opportunities for some kind of partnership around search”, but poured cold water over the idea of an acquisition, although one never knows in business: Ballmer could simply be angling to buy Yahoo at rock bottom prices potentially still to come, which could end up being the Internet bargain of the century.
Ballmer then turned his turret on his search competitors, and while there’s no sign he mentioned Google by name, who else could he be talking about? Ask.com? Don't make me laugh.
Threatening to “reinvent the whole damn thing”, Ballmer engaged in a little prognostication, saying the future of search would look nothing like it did today, and that anyone thinking so was “crazy”.
Taking a massive swipe at Google, he reportedly said: “The user interface on search hasn't changed for six years. You still get the same dull, boring ten blue links for God's sake. Can't we do any better than that?".
Of course, Ballmer should be asking the question of himself, because his description of search is exactly what Microsoft’s Live.com search engine looks like.
What does Google show you that Live.com doesn’t, and why is Ballmer wrong? Please read on to page 2.
