Whitey - 5:56 am on Aug 15, 2012 (gmt 0)

Some enlightenment's arrived. Just reviewed the various news sources for views & opinions, and given my interpretation of the overall synopsis :

- this is a small acquisition @ around $25m . Bargain
- principle targets in travel content acquisition , YELP , TripAdvisor , OTA's , Groupon via a quality , proprietary platform leveraged over the most powerful search brand aka Google
- principle extension / complimentary strategies in other content acquisition, like restaurants etc. lifestyle / social / Google local
- potential financial strategies in weakening middlemen that supply intermediary content to their own advertising for the ourposes of raising Adword revenue; lowering acquisition value by migrating revenue share of flow onto Google's platform - specifically YELP , TripAdvisor and Groupon ( maybe Groupon regret not having sold out to Google , but Expedia must be rubbing their hands at exiting TripAdvisor in a timely manner ... they must have seen the writing on the wall )

I mean, folks like Groupon , YELP and Tripadvisor are largely dependent on exposure through Google. When you take out the key verticals of Google's focus, they loose a lot of traction and financial muscle. Their content becomes superseded.

It looks to me as though Google will march on to own every business listing on the planet by creating value in every major vertical on the planet. Ultimately, Google's dominance of digital distribution must continue to motivate regulators to enable a breakdown of the dominance - but how. This is a lawyers festival, so hard to define in law, and Google knows it has time on it's side, while the digital marketing World becomes enslaved in it's web.

Simply, Google chooses what it publishes with it's assets firmly spidered in at the centre, which effectively provides outlying control of the World's search data in key verticals, like travel, restaurants and local. All Brands , large and small - and this deal indicates it won't cost much to do it.

So where does that leave folks building fancy UI's and building content/UGC for local, travel etc. They're fast about to become irrelevant I'd think.

It's back to running real business and leaving the digital marketing search distribution side of the business to Google. They continue to strengthen or control the digital brand access.