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Microsoft in Talks To Acquire Ebay
thatedeguy writes "The NY Post is reporting that Microsoft and Ebay are in talks for the online auction house to join the Microsoft family." That said, the talks aren't going that well at the moment. From the article: " Sources indicate that the talks, while still active, have cooled somewhat in the last two weeks as executives considered antitrust issues. It is unclear what the full impact of yesterday's advertising and search alliance between Yahoo! and eBay will be for talks between MSN and eBay. One source close to the matter suggested the Yahoo-eBay tie-up would not stop Microsoft from pursuing the online auctioneer."
I don't understand why this is rated funny. Given that ebay runs on Java switching the server OS should not be a problem at all. One question remains though: Would MS try to switch from Java to .Net?
In what way is that anything like with bundling IE/Media Player in Windows while having a "monopoly" position in the OS market ?
Does Google have a monopoly in ANY sphere ?
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Parent poster reminds /. that Microsoft WOULD replace *nix servers at eBay with THEIR
flagship product.
It is not outside the realm of rational thought that Microsoft will be desperate to have
some highly visible enterprise to demonstrate the successful adoption of MS Vista OS,
even if they have to buy the company in order for that to happen. Vista is far behind
schedule, and this only after shedding 90% of the new "gotta-have" features they were
touting. Many, many corporations will be unmoved to migrate to Windows Vista OS
until (1) it is a PROVEN product, and (2) prior MS products reach EOL status.
If Microsoft spends 20% of its' cash reserves to purchase eBay, and then another 20%
to massage a working enterprise IT structure in order to demonstate Vista's viability,
what other choice would they have? Their business plan is dependent upon regularly
scheduled corporate upgrades, including the support contracts and training/certification
treadmill. So long as such a massive acquisition takes place during the current (BushCo)
business climate, they are less likely to get pinged by the DoJ regarding monopoly abuse.
You might say that Microsoft's future business is dependent upon a closing "window of
opportunity" to demonstrate a viable enterprise MS Windows Vista deployment. The
most notable feature of Vista, h/w-s/w DRM with corporate key control, would be an
ideal non-political fit for an enterprise utterly dependent upon e-commerce.
I've enjoyed doing business with ebay, but it would be over if there's a buyout.
Microsoft probably would not be able to afford eBay. I'm a shareholder of ebay myself, and the way I see it, I would need either:
$45 per share in cash
or
2.5 MSFT shares per 1 ebay share
Which means Microsoft is either going to have to issue $30 billion in debt and spend all their existing cash, or relinquish 30%+ of the ownership of the combined company to eBay shareholders.
I find it hard to believe they're willing to do either.
Now, if they want to buy Skype from us or something, that's a different matter.
And if MS ran eBay, would there be special features only available to IE users? That would encourage eBay users to use Windoze instead of Apple or Linux.
Skype would be perfect for M$ and the way it does business - foothold in the market, recognized name, closed proprietary soft and protocols...
Wouldn't it be enough of a reason for M$ (I don't quite see how an auction-style site could interest them)