Microsoft could buy Yahoo and AOL if they merge

Microsoft was rejected by Yahoo earlier this year when it made multiple attempts to acquire the company. However, there could be a chain of events leading to the merger between Microsoft and Yahoo after all, thanks to a previous merger with AOL.

Spokesmen for Microsoft and Yahoo have declined to comment; while an AOL spokesperson has not returned the call made by Macworld UK.

More and more clearly, the truth is that Google will have more and more problems maintaining its advertising agreement with Yahoo because antitrust regulators are concerned about the market dominance that the agreement provides to Google, so that there is a high probability that he will reject it. In the event that happens, Yahoo’s shares could be affected; After all, one reason why Yahoo’s stock is worth $ 19 is due to the additional profits made from the Google deal. Thus, in the event that the agreement was rejected, Yahoo’s shares could fall, for example, to $ 15.

Such moves could lead to Yahoo looking more desperately for a deal with another company. While Yahoo CEO and founder Jerry Yang has made it clear that he doesn’t want to join Microsoft, it is obvious that a deal with AOL would be more palatable. In fact, Yahoo’s new board of directors has started more talks with Time Warner about a possible merger with its America Online unit, something that Macworld UK was able to confirm last night. Additionally, investor Carl Icahn, now on Yahoo’s board, has insisted on the need for Yahoo to reach an agreement. Furthermore, AOL appears more desperate than ever for a deal. His business has continued to deteriorate. Time Warner has indicated that AOL’s advertising revenue is down 16 percent to $ 1.1 trillion in the last quarter (compared to the same quarter last year). Therefore, the possibility of a Yahoo-AOL alliance has increased considerably in recent weeks.

And with Microsoft desperate for a deal, since it wants to compete with Google in the online advertising market, there is nothing that can stop it from bidding on the hottest duo represented by Yahoo-AOL.

Combined, the three companies (Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL) would have only about 25 percent of the market share in the online search and advertising segment, so there would be no problem for regulators to raise some sort of inconvenienced by a theoretical dominant position in the field of online search. Search still represents the vast majority of the overall online advertising market, with a figure hovering around 60 percent, so regulators’ concern revolves more around Google, which has a dominant position in that position with around 65 percent of the market share.