Microsoft is still gunning for Yahoo in hopes that by acquiring the company they’d be able to take on and seriously compete with Google in the online realm. But according to the results of a new comScore report, taking on Yahoo doesn’t look like it’d help them all that much.
In February 2008 both Microsoft and Yahoo lost ground to Google, who continues to widen its lead. Microsoft’s share of the search market dropped from 9.8% in January to 9.6% in February, and Yahoo went from 22.2% in January to 21.6% in February. Yahoo and Microsoft’s loss, however, is Google’s gain – they were able to increase their market share from 58.5% in January to 59.2% in February.
Preston at ComputerWorld brings up a good point:
Microsoft needs to learn that adding together two negatives doesn’t equal a positive.
Clearly, buying Yahoo won’t solve Microsoft’s problems. If Yahoo’s market share is dropping even faster than Microsoft’s how, exactly, will that help Microsoft? Buying Yahoo will only saddle Microsoft with another company whose clock is being cleaned by Google.
Would taking on Yahoo just be another burden for Microsoft, or would acquiring them help reverse both companies’ luck? Based on the latest comScore results, Yahoo doesn’t look like Microsoft’s silver bullet in the battle against Google.
