Posted by Angela | 0 Comments

Facebook Surpasses AOL

AOL has faced some tough competition in its lifetime. Google was an obstacle altogether. Bing was hated, which only got worse when it partnered with Yahoo. And yet through all these struggles, AOL always managed to remain the fourth largest Websites in America… that is, until November.

ComScore.com just released their statistics for November 2009 which revealed that Facebook had surpassed AOL in the US for having a larger Website. Facebook has actually already passed AOL in worldwide standings back in February of this year, but now it is officially bigger than AOL both internationally and nationally. The numbers show that Facebook has increased to 102.9 million individual visitors, while AOL only had 99.7 million in November. These numbers have both grown for each company. For AOL, their number of individual numbers grew about 1 million since October. However, Facebook’s numbers grew about 5 million in the same time frame. Facebook’s next goal is to beat Microsoft’s 136 million unique visitors.

ComScore also reported on searching usage for each Website. Again, Facebook beat out AOL by millions. AOL’s search usage actually decreased by 3% over the month of November from 395 million to 349 million searches. Facebook, however, experienced a 7% increase in number of searches from 331 million to 354 million, passing up old AOL.

We got to hand it to AOL for staying in the running this long. And you can’t forget they re-entered as an independently traded company since December 10. Now we’ll wait and see if Facebook has the momentum to take on the high rollers of Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google.

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Posted by Jeremy Scott | 0 Comments

Microsoft Just Wants to Buy Something

New reports today suggest that, having walked away from their proposed purchase of Yahoo, Microsoft has turned its affections toward Facebook.

But wait–there are also reports that they’re trying to buy AOL.

Or not. Some reports are suggesting they’re still after Yahoo.

Man, does Bill Gates have some money burning a hole in his pocket or what?

Am I the only one starting to see Microsoft as the high school senior who just got $1000 in graduation money and can’t decide on what unnecessary & useless thing he wants to buy first? I mean, Yahoo, AOL, and Facebook are three very different companies… with three very different customer bases.

But they’re also very large companies.

Maybe Microsoft just wants to make a big splash. Maybe they’re more like the school bully who reigned for years until a new bully (Google) moved to town and starting stealing his press. So the first bully starts beating people up with vigor, left and right, just to make sure no one forgets that he was there first.

I’m not sure why anyone would be interested in buying AOL–I don’t even know what they do anymore.

I half expect to see headlines this afternoon like “Microsoft Submits Bid to Purchase NFL” or “Microsoft in Talks to Buy China.”  Personally, I’d rather see Microsoft take the billions of dollars they’re dying to throw away on some huge merger and instead spend it on, oh, maybe making Vista run faster.

But that’s just me.

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Posted by Jeremy Scott | 2 Comments

Yahoo Takes Its Ball & Goes Home… to AO...

AOLHoo?  YahooOL?  Let the next round of name-guessing begin. 

Seems as though Yahoo has told Microsoft to go take a hike.  Well, that’s not a terribly surprising move, but that doesn’t mean it’s a smart one. 

Rumors are now swirling that they’re back talking merger with AOL.  Yeah, right.  Because AOL is sooooo much better an option than Microsoft (show of hands:  is anyone else frankly surprised that AOL even still exists?). 

I think Yahoo telling Microsoft to get lost is really just a corporate version of the old salary-negotiation thing.  They’re trying to get Microsoft to up their bid, plain and simple.  I don’t think there’s really any benefit for Yahoo in merging with AOL…in fact, the only benefit appears to be that AOL isn’t Microsoft. 

I don’t think for a second that Yahoo is really going to merge with AOL.  This is just a bargaining tactic.  I think the AOL-merger is just as likely as a Yahoo/PizzaHut merger.  Mmmm.  Pizza. 

So now the world waits to see how Microsoft responds.  I’ve read about how Microsoft’s stock has dropped a bit since their offer went out to Yahoo–lowering Microsoft’s value an amount almost identical to what they offered Yahoo.  Ouch.  So… will they increase their offer even more?  Or will they hold the line?  Whatever they choose to do in response, it’s pretty clear that this is all going to get more interesting from here.  Seems obvious, too, that Yahoo as we know it–as a standalone company–is nearing its end. 

We’ll do our best to stay up on the news and keep you updated.  I think Microsoft is still going to be buying Yahoo, when all is said and done.  Exactly how and when and why and how much is what we’re waiting to see, but any other outcome would surprise me.  And yes, before you ask… I’m totally an expert in the area of $44 Billion mergers. 

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