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Tag : matching shoe


And the award for the tiniest violin playing "My Heart Bleeds forYou" goes to...

Microsoft ( MSFT : sentiment , chart , options ) . It's amusing to see how people and companies react when the shoeis on the other foot. Today, we see Microsoft in front of the U.S.Senate making its antitrust case against a proposed onlineadvertising deal between Google ( GOOG : sentiment , chart , options ) and Yahoo! ( YHOO : sentiment , chart , options ) . According to reports , Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith ispounding the podium today, stating that such a deal between GOOGand YHOO would stifle competition and give Google "unprecedented"control of the gateway to the Internet.

"If search is the gateway to the Internet, and most believe that itis, this deal will put Google in a position to own that gateway andthe information that flows through it," Smith told the SenateJudiciary subcommittee hearing. Smith went on to note that theadvertising deal would give Google "an unprecedented level ofcontrol over advertising for search on the Internet -- up to 90percent potentially of all search ads."

Ninety percent market share? Are we sure we are not talking aboutthe PC market? While Google is near untouchable in its control ofthe "gateway to the Internet," MSFT exerts near equal control ofthe PCs that consumers use to browse that same Internet. Pot, meetkettle. While the company has a legitimate concern, I believe therest of the technology sector, and general public, would take theargument more seriously if it weren't coming from Microsoft. Apple(APPL) comes to mind as a more credible source, but then Jobs isprobably sitting back, reading reports on his iPhone, and enjoyinga good chuckle at MSFT's expense.

On a side note, if you were looking for some hard figures on thepotential returns for Yahoo! in that Google deal, Silicon Alley Insider has the skinny. Apparently, SearchIgnite estimates that "rates on Yahoo will go up 22% when Google startsselling them." Maybe MSFT should have just bought YHOO to avoidthis scenario.