Reports that Microsoft and Yahoo are in talks over a potential attainment or unification have come as anything but a surprise to analyst who question not if , but when , a deal will happen .
Yahoo did n’t immediately reply to phone and e - mail service asking for comment . A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company does n’t point out on rumors .
The potential other - stage negotiation over an acquisition , a merger or some other type of deal amount on the heels of Google ’s move last month to snatch up online advertising fireball DoubleClick for $ 3.1 billion .
Discussions between the companies are not news to analysts .
“ The talk are real , ” said Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence . In the backwash of the Google - DoubleClick mass , both Microsoft and Yahoo need to do something “ radical , ” he said .
“ An alliance would n’t satisfy the market , ” Sterling said . “ The market want a ‘ game - changing ’ move . On paper , an acquisition looks good . ”
Google is the enemy , and the sooner Microsoft and Yahoo respond to the net monster ’s growing on-line presence , the unspoiled , according to Rob Enderle of Enderle Group .
“ Both companies are clamber to vie with Google , which has become unbelievably powerful in the Internet advertising quad , ” he said . “ This is a competitive reception to the amount of top executive that Google is collecting . ”
Enderle noted that while “ big deal like this could be problematical , ” he pointed out that “ Yahoo ’s numbers are n’t good and this could put pressure on the troupe ’s executives to consider a deal . ”
A move to hook up with Microsoft could also help Yahoo catch up to Google on the “ sensing ” front , according to Jennifer Simpson , senior psychoanalyst with Yankee Group Research .
“ Yahoo , although seen as a viable competitor to Google , is not at the top of many the great unwashed ’s minds anymore , in terms of being a rival , ” she said .
Most analysts see more advantages than disadvantages of a tie - up between Microsoft and Yahoo .
“ What Yahoo has and Microsoft really does n’t is a foothold in the Silicon Valley community , which is becoming increasingly significant for acquisitions , ontogeny and getting the Son out , ” Simpson said . “ This partnership would bring that to Microsoft . ”
Microsoft also stands to benefit from Yahoo ’s online expertness . “ Microsoft is essentially a engineering company that has been focused on its Windows and Office software system ware , ” said Emily Riley , an psychoanalyst with JupiterResearch . “ Yahoo is very unlike ; it ’s an Internet party through and through . ”
But analysts are also warm to head out that a wad between the two companies could position some immense challenge .
“ Integrating the hands , the dissimilar corporal cultures and engineering will not be easy , ” said Sterling .
And then there ’s the “ size of it ” issue , according to Simpson .
“ There is a certain hesitancy already about Microsoft ’s clutch in the market , particularly in the software package market , ” say Simpson . “ It certainly does n’t differentiate if it live on out and buy a expectant cyberspace dimension like Yahoo . ”
