Microsoft's last offer to buy Yahoo is still under the scope of the board of directors at Yahoo, and even if they accept, the deal must also get the green flag from the European and American antitrust organizations. While this deal has most chances to pass through, if Yahoo agrees with it, Google simply can't make any offer to buy them, being the market leader, but other can... and one of them is Apple!
To be honest, this came as a surprise to me. OK, Apple is going up these days, but can they cover so many market areas at the same time, and manage to remain efficient in all of them? Well, that's what remains to be seen, especially since all we have at this time is nothing more but rumors...
At this time, it seems that those with their eyes on Yahoo include Apple Inc., Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., the media conglomerate InterActiveCorp, as well as the leading Chinese Internet search company Alibaba.com, but let's focus on Apple, shall we?
In a report published yesterday, the Scotsman wrote "It is believed he would be particularly open to a rescue bid from Steve Jobs' Apple Corp, having openly expressed his admiration for the firm in the past.", but I think this is not true, at least for now. Apple is not the Bruce Willis of the industry, and Yahoo doesn't actually need to be saved. They got an offer, but they can simply refuse it, and then allow things to move on, so it won't happen any tragedy, after all.
The fact that Steve Jobs was invited by Jerry Yang to hold a surprise speech to revitalize Yahoo's management morale at a meeting held back in October doesn't say much, and taking things from here to a "rescue bid" is a bit too much, at least for now, but I won't call it "impossible". Just keep your eyes on us, we'll be there to let you know all there is to know, if and when it happens...
