Ya, Google!


Yahoo! has been taking its lumps in the last few months and there were rumors of a Yahoo-Microsoft combination as the only way to take on Google, but Robert Young, writiing on Publishing 2.0, comes up with six reasons why Google, yes Google, should snap up Yahoo!

  • Yahoo! Mail, which accounts for almost 50% of the free email market, has more than 10 times the market share of Gmail;
  • Yahoo! Answers is a major hit… Google Answers failed;
  • Yahoo’s Flickr is a runaway hit… far outpacing Google’s Picasa photo site;
  • In critical verticals, like finance, Yahoo remains the clear leader despite much effort by Google;
  • Both Yahoo! and Google are cozying up to the newspaper industry with their respective efforts. Combine the two efforts and a successful outcome for all parties is almost guaranteed;
  • Want to acquire display/brand ad expertise? Forget DoubleClick — Yahoo’s ad sales expertise and relationships with big Madison Ave brands and agencies are far superior. Besides, as long as Google’s going to get scrutinized under federal antitrust regulators, and now Congress, might as well go through all that headache with the promise of a much bigger catch at the end.

Interesting analysis. And it’s interesting that among the six reasons are the efforts by both companies to forge strong ties to newspapers. Maybe, we’re not the wallflowers we imagine? I’m not holding my breaking that we’ll see this announced.
Tags: |