YahooSoft: just AOL/Time Warner all over again

Microsoft buying Yahoo didn't make any sense as a friendly $50 billion takeover. It doesn't make any more sense as a hostile $45 billion deal, especially given the anti-trust examination and European scrutiny that would slow it down.

In many ways, this reminds me of the $182 billion AOL/Time Warner deal in 2000. The big exception: AOL was the leader in online access in 2000 and Time Warner was one of the leading media companies. Yahoo and Microsoft are #2 and #3 in online advertising market share, and their merger will leave them #2 with about 20% market share -- in a business where Google controls 65% of the market.

Technorati Tags: AOL, Microsoft, Time Warner, Yahoo, Yahoosoft