Edwin - 4:17 am on Oct 30, 2009 (gmt 0)

If Microsoft buy them, the change in revenue is two-fold between them and Google: the revenue that Microsoft gains from operating Ask and serving ads, and the revenue that Google loses by no longer serving ads.

Of course, only one of those two helps Microsoft's bottom line DIRECTLY, and only one hurts Google DIRECTLY but looked at from a certain perspective, Google gets damaged by the combined total of both revenue amounts.