NYU Stern Professors to Offer Analysis of Microsoft’s Bid for Yahoo!

Today is apparently the big day when the Yahoo Board of Directors will determine whether to take Microsoft’s money or not. Kara Swisher says it’s not a done deal just yet. MG Siegler has his own take suggesting that Google will do anything to keep Yahoo out of Microsoft’s grubby paws.

This afternoon the NYU Stern School of Business in NYC has published their analysis on the bid. Professor of Economics Nicholas Economides argues:

• Because of Google’s dominance in Internet search, the combination of the second (Yahoo!) and third (MSN) search engines will enhance rather than hurt competition.
• The large market shares of Yahoo! and Microsoft in Instant Messaging (IM) and in free email are not likely to create antitrust difficulties in the merger.
• Despite the European Union’s recently announced investigation of Microsoft on bundling, the EU is not likely to stop this merger.
• The merger is complementary in other activities of the two companies, such as in mobile phones.

NYU Stern Professor of Information, Operations and Management Sciences Arun Sundararajan argues:

• Combining Microsoft’s ownership of the traditional PC market with Yahoo’s sophistication in the online consumer world could create a single company poised to win in the emerging world of consumer computing that is increasingly moving off the desktop and onto the Internet.
• Adding Yahoo’s extensive expertise in the Internet technology realm positions Microsoft to dominate the enterprise market in the coming decades.
• The combined company will be the dominant provider of e-mail – Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft’s Hotmail are the two most popular such services – and have a substantial combined presence in a myriad of other online properties.

Check out more at the NYU Stern Web site.