Kaiyzen

Ok.., these guys are taking things up a notch with the press games drawn out in public.  This whole thing is getting more interesting by the day.

So at the end of last week we saw things start to heat up again with MS giving Yahoo! three weeks to make a decision.  Then Yahoo! replying with a letter back basically saying they want more $$$.

After about a day of nothing going on we see an explosion of announcements, responses, and possible deals.

First there were rumors that Yahoo! and Google are very close to cutting a deal that would see a small portion of Yahoo! search inventory.., somewhere in the range of 3%, be served by Google.  This would last for a few weeks to see how things test out.

Microsoft of course wasted no time in responding to this news by having their general counsel Brad Smith draft a letter.  MS of course pulled the market share card stating that going down the path of cutting an ad deal with Google will not serve shareholders and would provide Google with about 90% market share in the search space which cannot be allowed.

Next up was the Wall St. Journal stating that Yahoo! was close to figuring out a deal with AOL to combine their internet businesses.

Think thats all you could take for one day of tech merger drama?  U are incorrect sir.

Shortly after the Yahoo!/AOL news comes word that MS and News Corp are talking about combining forces to take over Yahoo!.  The combination of the two going after the deal together would allow for the increase in bid that Yahoo! is being so stubborn about.

WOW…, this is a lot of stuff to take place in just around a weeks time.  It seems like all sides are hard at work to get the best position in this merger game.

All of these sound like one big shit storm.  The Yahoo!/Google test is just a bunch of PR that is meant to force MS’s hand.  It makes things a little interesting especially combined with fact that Google owns 5% of AOL and a combined Yahoo!/AOL and Google ad deal would be quite nice in Google’s eyes.  I dont think this will happen though.  I think Google doesnt really want all of this to happen.  All though the revenue would be welcomed, they do not need the scrutiny of regulators looking over their shoulder about how they conduct their biz.

The MS/News Corp thing just sounds crazy.  This is just to entice shareholders that maybe.., just maybe, Yahoo! should side with MS and that the bid might be raised.  I dont know how all this would play out with MySpace having a deal with Google for search and ads.., MS having the same deal with Facebook, and all of them playing nice together.

I will continue to keep an eye on this.., as I am sure you will too.  At this point with the level of media attention around this we all dont have too much of a choice here.

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