Last week, Microsoft made a 45 million dollar bid to buy Yahoo, swooping in shortly after the search engine giant announced that it would be forced to conduct employee layoffs sue to sagging funds.
There are many critics against the move, and none taking more of a lead than rival search engine Google, which calls the bid an attempt at a hostile takeover.. Just yesterday, the chief legal officer of Google, David Drummer, made an announcement that Google will not sit quietly by on the sidelines as Microsoft attempts to monopolize the Internet. On his blog, Drummond said he questions Microsoft, wondering if the company would “now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC.”
If Microsoft were to win the bid placed on Yahoo, it could then have access to a majority of instant messaging and e-mail accounts. Microsoft could take advantage of its PC software presence to limit the ability of users to access other web-based e-mail and services. In other words, it could lock out the competition by simply not allowing consumers to access anything other than Microsoft owned Internet and e-mail services.
Critics of Google, welcome the Microsoft bid as a way of bringing balance to the current environment that seems fueled by Google’s ambition. For example, Google has exerted a dominance through its online advertising and search advertising.
Reported by the New York Times and The wall Street Journal is a phone call from Google’s CEO to Yahoo’s chief offering to help keep Microsoft away from Yahoo’s doors.
As we wait and see what will happen, expect to hear more about this issue, which may turn into a tough antitrust battle.
What do you think? Would it be a positive or negative thing if Microsoft buys Yahoo?
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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