by Jeff Heilman
More instant fun swirling around the Microsoft-Yahoo!-Google power struggle:
Say Yahoo! dodges the Microsoft takeover--hard enough as it is--and somehow avoids an advertising partnership with Google. That might set the stage for a mega-private equity deal--in which some 31% of Yahoo!'s workforce--or 4,500 employees--could get the axe as part of paying off an LBO amount estimated by one analyst to be around $20 billion.
Reports also suggest that the "list of so-called 'white knights' willing to come to Yahoo's rescue appears to be dwindling. Several of the most logical candidates, including News Corp., AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp., reportedly have no interest in trying to top Microsoft's bid.
Is Microsoft after a mobile strategy? Here, it would be trying to capitalize on Yahoo! relative success in moving its Internet and e-mail properties over to mobile devices and trying to replicate the experience users have on their computers--which Microsoft has not done very well.
That's part of the story, but mostly, its Microsoft recognizing how the shift to online software and services impacts all of its businesses, which means jumping on those revenue and profit opportunities now. Says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: "If someone is going to cannibalize us, better that we cannibalize ourselves."
That also means Microsoft borrowing money for the first time ever--but to borrow from football, anything can happen on any given Sunday...