Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

Interesting piece in Friday’s Forbes talking about a report from Merrill Lynch suggesting Microsoft should acquire Yahoo! in order to fend off Google and consolidate Microsoft’s Internet business. “The possible acquisition of Yahoo would be a strategic positive in our view,” said Justin Post, a Merrill Lynch analyst and author of the report. He also said that Microsoft’s is determined to make advertising a significant revenue stream, possibly even larger than the core operating system business, and buying Yahoo! would be a large step in that direction. “A Yahoo/Microsoft combination would have garnered a 41% share in the US of search queries [in April] versus Google with 44%,” Post said. Might be just up Bill’s street as his final “Big Thing” before finally stepping down for good.

Resistance is futile!