Comments on: Counter-Point to Calacanis on Yahoo-Microsoft Deal

By: Thou shall not repeat the same mistakes… « Silly Bits (and Bytes)

Thou shall not repeat the same mistakes… « Silly Bits (and Bytes) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:25:24 +0000

[...] Jason and I believe that it is worth reading his post and the counter-points by Fred Wilson and Bill Gurley. CrunchBase Information Yahoo! Bing Information provided by CrunchBase Leave a [...]

By: Thou shall not repeat the same mistakes… « Silly Bits (and Bytes)

Thou shall not repeat the same mistakes… « Silly Bits (and Bytes) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:53:24 +0000

[...] Jason and I believe that it is worth reading his post and the counter-points by Fred Wilson and Bill Gurley. CrunchBase Information Yahoo! Bing Jason Calacanis Information provided by CrunchBase [...]

By: bgurley

bgurley — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:04:34 +0000

I completely agree with this, especially with why Microsoft must play. If Microsoft deteriorates the value of search, no problem.

By: Steve Lewis

Steve Lewis — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:14:09 +0000

Yahoo indeed has a tremendous core strength which they can uild upon — it’s their community(s). Trying to build an adserver (the primary focus of the prior leadership team) was most likely suicidal. It will be interesting to see if the new leadership recognizes Yahoo’s real assets and builds upon them.
I think MSFT is in a markedly different position. There Google is using its vantage point to attack core MSFT revenue streams essentially by offering much of the MSFT value for free (apps, mail, etc.). One could make an argument that they have to find a way to undermine Google’s core revenue stream or face the consequences of having much of that revenue turned into R&D which builds capablity targeting them.

By: jenslapinski

jenslapinski — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:16:13 +0000

Bill,

I agree and also disagree in degrees.

I think Amazon should have never been in the search space. It is good that they left.

I think Yahoo should categorically decide to either do it, or not. Both options make sense. However, what they have done was neither. That obviously doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. You are either in or you are out. But you cannot be both.

Microsoft has to be in search. They cannot afford not to be. You are obviously right: if there are many competitive players in this market, then the market will shrink. This is ideal for Microsoft. Microsoft is being attacked by Google both at the OS and application level. The best way for Microsoft to defend themselves is to attack Google in the only revenue generating business that they have: search. Leaving Google to its own devices in this space, basically allowing them a free lunch and dinner without any pressure would be a huge strategic mistake.

By: Yahoo Gets Binged « Elevate

Yahoo Gets Binged « Elevate — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:28:33 +0000

[...] argues that Yahoo just committed suicide, while Bill Gurley thinks the opposite, that Yahoo had to get out of Google’s way to [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:58:40 +0000

I agree folks have become obsessed with being Google, and with good reason: their killing it.

Yahoo’s search product, and now Bing’s, are actually as good (or close to as good, or slightly better) as Google’s in side by side blind tests. With some additional focus and innovation I believe that Yahoo could have started to chip away at Google’s marketshare… if they could get another 5-10% of search back they would be worth another 5-10b in terms of their market cap. That’s a better deal than $200-400m a year (or whatever they will get/save).

Now, if you believe that Yahoo is:

a) is not technically competent
b) spread to thin (like peanut butter!)

Than one can easily come to the conclusion that they should sell.

Keep in mind that Amazon and EBAY were starting from zero when it came to their Google-envy. Search was in Yahoo’s DNA and they are not starting from scratch.

I appreciate the feedback Bill and agree with 61% of it (especially the part when you call my blog post elegant!).

See you at the poker table/TechCrunch50!

By: bgurley

bgurley — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:39:29 +0000

and his current position with Mahalo “might” affect his position on this topic.

By: bgurley

bgurley — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:38:22 +0000

i disagree with this point. Apple was in the computer business before Microsoft & building great computers was ALWAYS their competitive advantage. Moreover, history will primarily be unkind for turning down $34. Were working from there.

By: Adrian Scott

Adrian Scott — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:40:03 +0000

Nice thoughts, Bill. It’s fun to apply Jason’s analysis to his own decision to sell his past company, n’est-ce pas?…