I woke up today wishing I never sold me Yahoo stock. Microsoft made a $44 billion dollar bid to acquire Yahoo, the equivalent
of a 60%+ premium over the current share price. Ok, reflecting on my day trading days aside – this is a huge announcement!
Should the deal be accepted and pass FTC regulatory scrutiny, the combined entity of Microsoft (which has strengthened its position significantly since the groundbreaking aQuantive acquisition last year) and Yahoo, would rival Google in a way that neither would have ever been able to achieve alone at this point.
I’ve been predicting that Microsoft is as much a player to look out for as Google is, in the age of “coopetition” and “frienemies”. In my ‘Agency Darwinism’ piece from weeks ago, I point out that lately WPP chief Martin Sorel has mentioned Google more than his direct competitors like Publicis, IPG, & Omnicom. I pointed out that Microsoft should be looked at equally as seriously, and wouldn’t you know it, 2 weeks later the industry is already moving in its next hyper evolutionary state.
This is a new era we are entering once again…
Mediapost today ran a statement from former aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews, it’s a good read.
