Comments on: Microsoft now has $50 billion burning a hole in its pocket…

By: edhardy622

edhardy622 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:29:21 +0000

British law student sues Abercrombie-Fitch for disability discrimination.
http://www.abercrombieonsale.co.uk

By: Microsoft fails to buy Yahoo, so it buys Greenfield for some…European comparison shopping sites? » VentureBeat

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:31:52 +0000

[...] wasn’t exactly high on the list of Microsoft potential purchases. Okay, it wasn’t on there at [...]

By: Google buries Digg deal. Marked as a dupe or just lame? » VentureBeat

Google buries Digg deal. Marked as a dupe or just lame? » VentureBeat — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:15:17 +0000

[...] Given its advertising deal with the company and its new strategy to make waves in the online world, certainly a Microsoft purchase of Digg isn’t out of the question. [...]

By: Microsoft takes control of Facebook search, expands ad deal » VentureBeat

Microsoft takes control of Facebook search, expands ad deal » VentureBeat — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:56:40 +0000

[...] flew that Microsoft would try to expand its deal with Facebook when its attempt to buy Yahoo fell apart. There was even talk of Microsoft gauging the social [...]

By: Why doesn’t Google build its own Digg like Yahoo and AOL did? » VentureBeat

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:41:09 +0000

[...] Another interesting angle to this story is that Digg currently has an advertising deal with Microsoft. If Google does buy Digg, don’t expect that to last long. After losing out of Yahoo search advertising to Google, could Microsoft really stand to lose another revenue stream to its main rival? Maybe we’ll see a counter-offer? [...]

By: Powerset opens to everyone — now, what’s next? » VentureBeat

Powerset opens to everyone — now, what’s next? » VentureBeat — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:57:49 +0000

[...] and $100 million likely won’t cut it. Maybe twice that amount would, and Microsoft does have a few extra billions of dollars lying around, but everyone will likely want to sit back and see how Powerset does in the wild first. [...]

By: The Microsoft buying Facebook rumors commence…again » VentureBeat

The Microsoft buying Facebook rumors commence…again » VentureBeat — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:50:41 +0000

[...] (for at least a couple months until they double back), the acquisition gaze shifts forward. We laid out a few names over the weekend. One of them: Facebook. Now word is already coming in that the social networking [...]

By: The Declining Value Of Redundant News Content On The Web - Publishing 2.0

The Declining Value Of Redundant News Content On The Web - Publishing 2.0 — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:32:09 +0000

[...] InsideMicrosoft, WebProNews, VentureBeat and Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim [...]

By: Roundup: Yahoo braces for a return to normal life, GTA IV, and more » VentureBeat

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:26:15 +0000

[...] to thrive in challenging,” Yang says. Read our most recent coverage of the move, plus some more analysis. One clear winner this past weekend: Friendfeed, the so-called “life aggregation” [...]

By: Kawika Holbrook

Kawika Holbrook — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:17:27 +0000

Microsoft wanted Yahoo for the page views to “scale” its search/ad strategy. Nothing comes close to scaling, so even if they buy the rest of the top 10, they’re no where near where they wanted to be. How else can they scale? If they really believe in their technology, how about spending billions to sponsor free content?

By: A Blogger

A Blogger — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:59:33 +0000

Microsoft can buy any and almost all of the Top 10 for the price Yahoo wanted!

By: A Blogger

A Blogger — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:01:56 +0000

@tzik,

Sounds right. MS is in deep trouble and for teh first time could lose everything if it does not make some moves. Unlike last time against Netscape, there is not Bill Gates to move the company so Ballmer has to do something.

As you said tiny Web 2 buzz bubbles starups with unkown ad revenue like DIGG, Twitter, Ning, will not move the needle. The top 10 sites not counting Google, MSN, Yahoo, Wikipedia, eBay & Amazon, Apple by comScore MediaMetrix Top Web Properties are:

1. AOL 100M Uniques ($10B)
2. Fox/MySpace 88M Uniques ($10B)
3. Ask/IAC 55M (10B)
4. About/NYT 47M (Unknown $5-8B)
5. Viacom 44M (Unknown)
6. Weather Channel 40M ($5B)
7. Facebook 36M ($10-15B)
8. CNet 35M ($2-4B)
9. Glam Media 35M ($1-2B)
10. CBS Online 39M ($5B)

By: tzik

tzik — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:12:06 +0000

Digg? Twitter? You must be joking. MS is looking for major PV generators, not some tiny web 2 buzz bubbles. We’re talking top 10 sites here.

And there ain’t to many of those up for grabs. Yahoo said no, Facebook is a monetization disaster, so is Myspace even if News Corp agrees to sell, Wikipedia can’t be bought, Blogger is spoken for, so is Youtube.

Microsoft is in deep trouble, Internet wise, and the only solution in site is starting to be creative, more open than open, risk taking and fun. – everything MS knows how to be better than anyone!

By: Fabian Schonholz

Fabian Schonholz — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:01:30 +0000

It will be interesting to see who they go after and how they execute their acquisition strategy.

By: A Blogger

A Blogger — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:08:49 +0000

@MG,

If you read Steve Ballmer’s email- this is about Internet Advertising in Search, Display & Video. With aQuantive purchase MS starts to get in the Agency game. With Yahoo, it would have got in the Search, Display & Video game, and seriously increased its position in Search Ads.

If MS does not go through MS will look at other Advertising companies, Ad Networks and Ad Platforms. Most of Google Search Ads run on publisher sites- not on Google.com, so MS is missing a publisher Ads solution.

I would add other Ad Companies, like AOL bought Ad.com, Comcast bought Adify.com, and Yahoo bought Blue Lithium, Google bought DoubleClick. Vertical Networks like Glam.com, and other Ad Platforms like OpenX.