The buzz going around on enterprise blogs this week has been about this weekend’s retraction of the deal that would give Microsoft the popular search engine at $33 dollars a share. Today a few analysts discussed the deal on CNBC’s Squawk Box and 2 of the 3 analysts stated that Microsoft will move on past the Yahoo deal and look for other purchase opportunities.
A recent Tech Crunch Blog Article stated that AOL might be on the map for software giant. The article goes on to tell that Time Warner is looking to sell the ISP and that the corporate culture of AOL would match Microsoft’s culture better than Yahoo. I argued in a comment that Ask.com might return a better return on investment for Microsoft. Ask has a Search Advertising department that has not been able to compete with Google or Yahoo, however, many unique hits utilize the search engine along with it’s content network on the About.com network. I feel that Microsoft should make a move to acquire not only just a search engine but also a content network that will engage the audience and produce better return for search advertisers. AOL would make a good fit as well, however, Microsoft may have to pay a premium.