It was March 2007 when I first predicted Microsoft would buy Yahoo.
I was wrong. Again. Outright acquisition seems (rightly) out of the picture now.
Kara Swisher at AllThingsD has a better idea. Perhaps Microsoft and Yahoo will turn their attention to buying AOL. I like that idea. Microsoft will win any bidding war.
What does Microsoft get from buying Yahoo's search business, anyway, besides the indelible impression that it can't create a viable search engine to save its wealthy ass? It gets traffic. It gets eyeballs to blind with its own flashing ads. Then it could show Google, boy.
What does it get if it buys AOL? Eyeballs that are currently seeing Google search results and Google ads.
Microsoft could then prove its software machismo by replacing Google's search engine at AOL with MSN's (will anyone notice the difference?) and switching the site over to Microsoft ads. It gets twice the punch for that purchase.
Of course, AOL is damaged goods, because the celebrated wedding with Time Warner didn't work out so well. But it would be a better fit with Microsoft and MSN. MSN could start losing money twice as fast!
Did I say that? No, I mean that Microsoft could finally make MSN profitable with all those new eyeballs staring at its award-winning content and ads.
Come on, Ballmer. Go for it.