Yahoo! to buy Blog hosting company
Slashdot/ Sven Lathams reports today that Yahoo! is set to launch into blogging based on the blog service it appears to be running in Korea (but no one is sure as its in Korean except the logo: Yahoo Korea Blog) ignores the recent history of Yahoo! and its hunger for acquisitions when it misses the boat on major new trends on the internet (which it usually does).
Sources inside Yahoo! have told the Blog Herald that the company is already in talks with a number of Blogging firms, looking for the right acquisition vehicle to integrate into the Yahoo! stable of sites. Yahoo! is also concerned with the widening scope of the Google stable the recent purchase of Pyra Labs by Google Inc.
Although Yahoo! did not respond to our request to confirm the rumours, the Blog Herald believes that it is not a matter of if Yahoo! will purchase a blogging firm, but when, which one and at what price.
Names such as Xanga and TypePad are possibilities, with Six Aparts new TypePad service, although in early days, seeking widespread critical acclaim and increasing market share at the cost of its competitors strongly. Live Journal, although “Open Source” could also provide opportunities for Yahoo! with a very large user database.
An outside possibility is the purchase of 3rd party software, such as Radio or MT to run a service under the Yahoo! Geocities banner, although we think this unlikely at this stage.
For those sceptical about this proposition, or the information received, consider the following: E-Groups, Broadcast.com, Geocities, Altavista, Overture… all gobbled up by Yahoo! to plug holes in their line up as others have set the trend.
If they get Six Apart then I bet the online version will continue and MT will see a swift end of life statement.
well, this is just a rambling and as a rambling it´s not inaccurate.
I mean, you name all the blogging companies around with some good blogging tool and imagine some aquisition.
I do agree with you with the history of yahoo history of buying to grow; but i dont think they´ll need this time; due to the architecture of this new Yahoo! blog where everithing is tied to the Yahoo id they are not forced to buy anything.. yet.
Look the competitors… AOL builded its own tool; MSN still have no strategy (and in that case buying out is a better business proposition than it is for yahoo!) Google have blogger. So? Where is the hurry? Where is the true value of buying out instead of building and online service?
It is a nice rambling.
TypePad is elegant & intelligent. Yahoo! is clumsy. This does not fit together …