Danny Sullivan of searchenginewatch.com recently had a chat with Sergy Brin (Google co-founder) and among the questions asked was a merger with MS. Here's how it went;
Sullivan: "Are there any circumstances in which Google might buy Microsoft? Or, the opposite?"
Brin quipped, "I think there are a lot of liabilities in acquiring Microsoft." When the audience's laughter died down, he added, "Over time, there have been a number of companies that have approached us. We've always said 'no' thus far. We think our company has a lot of promise. We're pleased with the trajectory that we're on and so it's not a very likely thing to happen in my mind. But it would be silly to discount a serious approach from anyone."
Sullivan asked a related question about the recent consolidation in the search market.
Brin answered, "The whole industry is a little bit crazy right now. I personally prefer the previous generation, when we could go about building our search technology. But we are where we are. Unfortunately, there are companies out there with trigger fingers. There will be integration challenges for all of these companies. That's why we focus on small companies with a clear cultural fit."
...so they're saying 'no' for now, and I assume a 'serious approach' would mean a serious amount of money - just what MS has. It's not likely, but not out of the question - it all depends on how much MS would be willing to splash out. MS is currently establishing their own search results from a bot that is crawling around the 'net right now, but it's the good old US way of thinking;
'Why make & bake your own slice of pie when you can buy someone else's big slice for a massive cost?'
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October 31st, 2003, 10:13 AM
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