December 5th, 2008
Ballmer: We'd like a Yahoo deal, but don't need it
In a Q&A with Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Wingfield, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reiterated that a search deal makes sense for both Microsoft and Yahoo but was quick to add that Microsoft is fully prepared to go it alone. (Techmeme)
Ballmer is practically throwing open the doors to a search deal. He says there are no talks going on now (and we’re supposed to believe him.) He has said that he remains interested in a deal. And he told the Journal, in this interview, that it would be better for both companies if something happened sooner, rather than later. As much as it sounds like he’s throwing the ball back in Yahoo’s court, don’t think for a second that the welcome mat will be out there forever. In the interview, he said:
We’re fully prepared to compete without any partnership with Yahoo. We don’t need to act. Would it be advantageous for both of us to make a deal? Look, the fundamental basis for doing the search deal with Yahoo has to do with critical mass in the advertising marketplace. It doesn’t have to do with technology, or any of these other things, it really is a market phenomenon. Together we would have more advertisers….which means we’d have more relevant ads on our page. We’d have higher monetization levels possible in front of us because there would be more people bidding on more key words. Most importantly, Google would have perhaps a real credible competitor sooner.
Also on the interview was Dr. Qi (pronounced “Chee”) Lu, a former Yahoo executive who will take over Microsoft’s online services business in January. Lu declined to share how he - as an executive at Yahoo - viewed the rejection of the Microsoft acquistion offer and the subsequent turmoil within Yahoo.
“With regards to the acquisition, certainly the management team and the board of directors made their decisions, and we all know about that now,” he said. “Sometimes the employees, different people have different views. That’s perhaps all I have to say.”
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Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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