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Microsoft And Time Warner Resume Talks
An anonymous reader writes: "Seems as though Microsoft and Time Warner have come back together at the negotiating table." From the article: "The two companies are focused on combining AOL's Web content with Microsoft's search-engine technology, although other aspects of the talks are sketchy. It isn't clear whether they are considering merging their Internet dial-up businesses, which generate lots of cash, the paper said. The two companies originally began discussions about some sort of Internet deal earlier this year. But the talks stalled in the late summer over a range of issues including technical obstacles and questions about control."
AOL provides 40% of google's click revenue, if they start using MS then Yahoo becomes number 1, MS becomes a player, and google loses almost half of its revenue stream all in one clean swoop.
Let's face it, Time Warner's strengths are in content (magazines, movies, books) while Microsoft's strengths are in technology (to put it politely). The one thing Google does not have is exclusive content. Imagine if MSN and AOL began delivering exclusive Time Warner branded content -- could be enough to attract a lot of people.
Just a thought.
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
M$ might be wanting to get all that targeted ad revenue and search bums on seats but that isn't what Time Warner is offering. Time Warner (IMO) is looking to dump AOL with extreme predjudice, this means washing their hands forever, finito. The article talks about merging MSN&AOL and spinning them off as a merged company - but M$ can't do that because MSN is core to their strategy to 'KILL google'.
m e-mr-aol customer is dead - that market is over, grandmama has got herself a blog. I digressed there but my point was microsofts stock has been performing shit-to-flat since 2000 and is poised for a little rise this next 12 months with various new products. The only reason to absorb AOL would be if they were afraid of the big institutions dumping at the first hit of an upturn. M$FT recently has been a lame stock, propped up by buy-backs and crappy (throw me africkin bone) dvidends - the halcyon days are over see the mini-blog. Why would balmer exasberate this downward trend?
Any company that just buys and absorbs AOL is going to take a stock hit. The market knows AOL is piece of shit, with dial-up customers abandoning it, no penetration in broadband (locked out in effect by telecoms and cable gatekeepers), the naive new-to-the-information-super-highway-please-rape-
Even M$N employees have said MSN is at best a bit of fun. A place where cash is burned on shiny projects just to stay relevent and keep a presense. Microsofts heart just isn't in the internet at all, that might change so they keep an oar in.
Microsoft could take 30% of googles ad revenue and M$FT stock wouldn't budge. M$ is just too bloody big, it would be a penny in the ocean of cash. But googles stock would probably be in some trouble. M$ would just be hurting google for the sake of hurting something. Possible even typical (but would the share-holding sheep go along in 2005 when its their dividend being sqandered on balmers he-man [really you need to see the current mini-blog] ego-trip board games)
MSN messenger and AIM already link up anyway.
You can mix pig-shit and horse-shit anyway you want - but you'll never make a tasty treat.
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It's not precisely competitition when they both make heavy use of managed ports.
In most places whether its, AOL, Earthlink or MSN... you are connecting to a third party POP like UU.net.
Funny how that works...
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