Yesterday’s Yahoo-Microsoft search deal is a complete mystery to me from Yahoo’s perspective. They have now essentially given up on search and handed over their current #2 market share to Steve Ballmer & Co. all in an effort to reduce costs? Now I realize that reducing costs is critical for companies right now, but this move effectively eliminates Yahoo from the search game. With Microsoft at the controls, Yahoo can only just sit back and collect rev share on search traffic on thier site.
If the partnership pays off then Yahoo’s bottom line will grow in the interim, but Microsoft’s will too in addition to MS getting all of the branding advantages, control over future optimization and they now have Yahoo on a leash to boot. I just don’t get it, can anyone at Yahoo really be excited about this? Now its display advertising or bust for all of the Y! employees? Let’s hope there’s something else up their sleeve to keep Yahoo relevant, cuz they’re headed the wrong direction currently.
