Forum Moderators: goodroi
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A very interesting read.
This bit caught my eye.
"Yahoo! the Portal" wants to regain its former stature as "Yahoo! the Search Engine"
Interesting that we also seem to be seeing "Google the search engine" shifting toward "Google the Portal", what with the addition of Froogle.
So yes, I think a search war is a possibility, but I also think the Inktomi database needs a lot of expanding - although results aren't bad for generic terms I'd not go near it for specifics.
"Yahoo! the Portal" wants to regain its former stature as "Yahoo! the Search Engine"
That's because being a portal has yet to be proven to be a viable business model. One of the few pure Internet business models that has shown the ability to make real money is PPC.
Yahoo's 5% stake in Google, surely that would be worth $235 million.
That would put Google's value at $4.7 billion. That's almost 4 times Overture's market cap. That's a pretty significant premium over an established PPC engine. How do you come to that figure?
Yahoo's paying $235 million for Inktomi.
That's a pretty significant premium over an established PPC engine. How do you come to that figure?
As I said, I have nothing to back that up, but I would'nt be at all suprised if after an IPO its Mar Cap was that high. To my mind there would be the rush of mom and pa's investors similar to that of Telco's in the late eighties and early nineties.
To my mind there would be the rush of mom and pa's investors similar to that of Telco's in the late eighties and early nineties.
Which would only prove that the typical American investor still can't figure out a P/E ratio ;)
Which would only prove that the typical American investor still can't figure out a P/E ratio
True although corporate America does'nt seem to crash hot at it either "AOL"
Competition is war ... isn't it?
Did I miss any other news since late Dec 2002?
If they have an IPO the pressure will be on to come out with all guns blazing like Chow Yun Fat.
You can bet that the pressure will be on Google to drive traffic to to Froogle etc. and monetize their various offerings beyong the basic search.
Nice to see some among search engines or soon to be search engines again :-)
bear in mind there may shortly be a war
A war is the best thing that could happen to the economy, and to stocks in particular.
It's uncertainty that keeps investors on the sideline, and the longer we stay out of war the longer the economy will keep tanking. Of course, if there is a resolution apart from war then that would help too. But perhaps not with the same kick an all out war would have.
Disclaimer: I marched at the protest in Frisco this month. I don't approve of or advocate war.
I'm only stating the obvious truth that war increases consumption, that is, war uses up raw materials and equipment, and spurs manufacturing and technology which must be replaced and improved.
Economy 101. That's why investors love a good war: It spurs the economy.
This is a spin also spun by MSN and others - as a general principle that, repeated enough - people will start to belive it.
Paid inclusion may contribute to relevancy in some commercial topic areas, but I dont see any evidence in that it helps with informational or general searches, in fact more often then not, the very opposite.
This is a dangerous statement to let go unchallenged, no matter how qualified the nature of its presentation was.
>>(for example, do a search for "san francisco weather," and the actual forecast is embedded in the search results page).<<
Hopefully this "portal-thinking" may not continue to dominate the thinking. Why should I have to wait for the actual san francisco weather to load if i wanted something else - like historical data, research articles, song lyrics, or opinions on the weather. Providing useful search, as Google has proven, is sometimes about giving customers less, not more.
Totally agree. Yahoo is a pretty awsome source on informations/entertainment. But I think their killer app/trump card is Email. How many of you have yahoo email addressed that you check regularly? I have 4 that I check every day. I'm married to that site. In that sense, Google has the uphill climb.
Yahoo have been created with an nice idea of being everything for everybody on ther internet. If you look for all the services they offer, you can easily see that they are channeling their own traffic and keeping it for themselves. At Yahoo.com one can find *all* kind of info.. so if Google is gonna try to compete with Yahoo on being a portal, then it is going to be a real tough fight.
If Yahoo continues to improve search results then they may just edge Google out a tiny bit IMO. They offer alot of things that Google doesn't like news, weather, and chat.
On main reason to go to Google IMO, they don't offer that stuff + don't have annoying advertising. If you are looking for something, be it news, info or products you can find it at Google w/o all the clutter and distractions at YAHOO!
I would never use YAHOO! email after they reset their privacy preferences and decided they would sell out their users.
Just tossed YAHOO! messenger in the bin cause that thing was to often getting in the way when not in use.
