Microsoft bids yahoo

Since Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! -- initially valued at $44.6 billion but now pegged at $42 billion by the Associated Press (AP) -- there's been endless deliberation as to the possible outcomes of this formidable marriage. Microsoft hasn't been very vocal about what they intend doing with brand Yahoo! in the event their multi-billion dollar bid goes through. What most analysts are agreed upon though is that the changes will be huge, to say the least.
Possibly, the combined companies will continue to retain some of their separate free services such as instant messaging and email programs. A mid-term change could be some of Microsoft's Web content disappearing or getting added to Yahoo!. For instance, MSN might fold into Yahoo! simply because keeping it separate may not prove profitable. Not that MSN is a loser but with Yahoo! still profitable, Microsoft may be inclined to do away with its not-so-profitable online properties. A long-term change could be the creation of a better way to combine the Web with desktop computing, and all those devices that might some day plug into the Web. Another change might be a complete re-think on the PC Desktop. All said, Microsoft Windows is still there on 90 percent of the world's PCs, which presents the combined companies a fabulous opportunity to put wide-ranging Internet data and applications onto PC desktops the world over. Possibly, Microsoft may even leverage Yahoo!'s online strengths to develop better Web-based versions of some of its powerful desktop software applications like Word and Excel. Meanwhile, the biggest change, according to analysts, will come as a renewed ability of the combined companies to deliver their ad networks all over the Internet -- something that till now, only Google has succceeded in doing. With observers ready to bet upon 'advertising reach' as being the biggest motivator behind the proposed acquisition, it's quite clear that even if the marriage occurs, noone's really going to 'Microsoft' or 'Yahoo!' anything on the Internet. They may of course continue to 'Google' a Microsoft