A-O, A-O,L, Google come and me want to go home
What does the Google investment in AOL really mean?
At on level, nothing. Microsoft often took 5% shares in companies and it didn't seem to benefit either company at all. This smells different, though.
I see 2 advantages for Google:
- Google gets access to a lot of deep content that it couldn't scan before, including AOL's video and possible part of TIme Warner's library
- Google gets a channel for its ads
There's one huge advantage for AOL:
- It sets a valuation for what I suspect will soon be a sale. The transaction values AOL at 20 billion dollars, giving Time Warner an initial bargaining position for future business deals.
Who loses? MIcrosoft. It continues to emphasize the gradual denutting of Redmond by the computer industry.
But don't bet against the Microserfs, it isn't over yet.
Posted on December 22, 2005
