digibyte - Time (Inc) up for Yahoo! and Marissa Mayer?
- Summary:
- Is Time Inc the unlikely suitor for Yahoo!? And if so, can it do better than Time Warner's horrendous merger with AOL?
What do you get when you combine a traditional print company with a digital company?
Well, until now, the answer to that would probably be the $164 billion disaster that was the coming together of Time Warner with AOL back in 2000.
Ask again in a few months time and you might just get a different answer if the scuttlebutt today about Time Inc making a play for Yahoo!’s core search, mail and news site businesses.
Time’s been trying to up its digital game of late, announcing earlier this month that it’s buying MySpace to get skin in the social networking game. On the plus side, Yahoo!’s near one billion user base of monthly visitors would be a major asset in trying to reboot life into the print giant’s ailing advertising business.
One thing that is interesting to note about the rumors circulating - Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer would not be part of the deal it seems.
My take
It’s a different world 16 years on from the AOL/Time Warner gambit, but the long shadow of that deal will hang heavy over this latest development. Notably, Yahoo!’s stock price actually went down on rumors of the Time Inc merger.
Other prospective candidates for a Yahoo! purchase, such as AT&T and Verizon, have deeper pockets than Time Inc. Is there likely to be some kind of bidding war emerging in pursuit of that one billion user base?
Good idea? Bad idea? Only time will tell.