Is it me or does anyone else see the irony in this? One media conglomerate aka News Corp. is buying into the Internet, and spending cash like a drunken diva let loose on Rodeo Drive with a Black AmEx. And Time Warner, looking for an out, if that is the case. The talk of MSN-AOL makes me think that 1 and 1 don’t add up to 11. With know-nothing trouble makers like Carl Icahn barracking for short term gains, who knows anything is possible. (Carl, by the way should just stick to pillaging airlines - this Internet thing is something he doesn’t get. XO anyone?) By the way, Light Reading is reporting that AOL is ready to launch a consumer VoIP offering, that doesn’t need AOL online service, or even a computer. Sort of like one more headache for Vonage. Using AOL as a sales channel, even a few hundred thousand customers should help prop up the decline in dial-up revenues. Good move! (Disclosure: I work for Business 2.0, which like AOL is owned by Time Warner.)
MSN, AOL doesn’t mean 1+1=11
3 trackbacks so far
5:31 PM PT
[...] Despite all these problems, I am loathe to bet against Microsoft. They just have too much money. Like the Yankees, you can never count them out. Here is a good example that the wolf still lurks under sheep’s clothing. The AOL-MSN deal, harks back to the blatantly predatory days where company arm-twisted computer makers to bundle a sub-par browser. Take away 12% of Google’s Ad-revenues, and you have wounded the upstart. Clearly a business win, because on technology they can’t! I think Microsoft can use its “mountains of cash” to pose problems for any rival, without any chance of admonishment from the regulators. [...]
8:21 PM PT
VoN Bloggers Roundtable
Just arrived Boston to participate at the
9:35 PM PT
[...] Carl Icahn, the great pillager of airlines, seems to have it for Time Warner. The corporate raider who is as savvy about the post-broadband landscape as David Hasselhof is about rap music, wants Time Warner to sell off its cable assets, and get rid of AOL. Never mind that his last effort at such meddling didn’t go down so well. [...]
2 comments so far
8:17 AM PT
Om,
If the price is right, wouldn’t it be good move for MSN to tap into the 50 million + AIM/AOL users?
AOL seems to have been spending a good deal of money on content lately.
Would this purchase be a better move for Yahoo?
p.s. Great blog.
10:38 PM PT
If msft manages to convince AOL to use msn search instead of google, it equates to a 12% revenue drop for google. AOL was the single largest revenue source for google last year when google declared their earnings. Battle royal is in the offing between msft and google.
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