May 5th, 2008
SAP CEO: Ballmer should have bought Yahoo
If Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer were to call SAP CEO Henning Kagermann for advice on what he should do with his $40 billion to $50 billion the advice would be: Spend it on Yahoo.
That call isn’t totally out of the question given that Ballmer and Kagermann are partners on many fronts. Microsoft could be calling SAP as a buyout target–the two have talked before–but Kagermann’s advice was a bit of a shocker to me. The question was a throwaway for giggles given that everyone is still talking about the Microhoo saga.
“I’d encourage him to spend it on Yahoo. For Microsoft, the challenges are more on the side of the consumer space not the enterprise space,” said Kagermann, who wasn’t going to touch on what he would do if Ballmer came calling.
Following up, I asked: What about the integration? Kagermann smiled. He noted that if Microsoft were going to bid on Yahoo the chances are good that it would have had a solid integration plan.
Should Yahoo have taken the deal? Kagermann said it was unclear whether Yahoo can remain an independent company. Translation: Yeah, Yahoo should have taken the deal.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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