Seems like everyone on the planet is writing about a potential Yahoo/Microsoft merger/acquisition.
As a bigco vet, the thought of losing momenteum with yet another re-org and re-setting of the strategy is a little chilling--after all, just dealing with all the tech platforms and dividing those pies would be a major undertaking--and yet there's no question the twinned team would have a strong run against the competition.
Since, like Zawodny, I (fortunately) don't have a clue, let me leave you with a couple of the comments that hit home:
Skrenta: "Anyone who has worked in a bigco knows what this nonsense does to productivity. Imagine every single one of your employees spending hours today talking about this."
Scott Rosenberg: " If Microsoft acquires Yahoo, the companies' stock will initially prosper and the media will cheer on a new round of the War on Google. But seven years from now Yahoo will be as much of a shell as AOL is today. The talent will flee, the user base will stagnate, and Yahoo's ability to innovate will wither under the weight of Microsoft bureaucracy and the pressure to serve Microsoft's software interests."
Charlene: "...there is one major reason why I don't think Microsoft executives have the stomach for any sort of brand rationalization -- the continued dual branding of Windows Live and MSN. Each time I have a conversation with Microsoft about Windows Live, I get a different explanation of what it is and how it fits with MSN. If the company can't event figure out its branding strategy with existing properties, I don't hold out much faith that they could do so with a premium brand like Yahoo!"
More news and speculations on this one to come, no doubt.
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