If you have any interest in the Yahoo – Microsoft saga (that is far from finished btw) then I recommend listening to this Gillmor Gang Emergency edition. The first 10 minutes are annoying as they get themselves organised (and should have been edited out) and the last 5 minutes is a bit of a ‘he said, she said’ distraction, but the rest is a fast paced insight into the deal.
The podcast was recorded on Saturday, just after news of Microsoft’s withdrawal broke, and it has been interesting to see how the predictions of the panel have played out (fairly accurately). The panel are all well informed, strategic thinkers and offer good analysis. They disagree at times, and you’ll warmed to see how respectfully they challenge each other. Michael Arrington is especially impressive (IMO), both for his analysis and his willingness to take task with the others. His misunderstanding of Scoble, accusation and then withdrawal when clarified is a nice touch.
I have to admit to being fascinated with the whole Yahoo acquisition attempt over the last few months – especially the last few days of course – and have read everything I can get my hands on to understand it better.
I’m surprised many people I speak to are so blasé about it – I guess we’ve all become so accustomed to the huge dollars being tossed around these days that we’ve lost sight of just how enormous this thing is. $44B is a lot of money. It was only a few years ago that a billion dollar deal was big news. The size of acquisitions seems to have grown geometrically, yet I wonder if the value/contribution of the deals to people, companies, societies and economies has come anywhere near as close…
Perhaps though the biggest shock is still to come. In the dust of a failed acquisition, will there be only two left standing where previously there was three? And more importantly, will the void created only be filled by one?
Summary: How long before the world wakes up to just how powerful Google is set to become? Tick tock.
