MSN to Sell Out to Yahoo!?

What a change of events. Just a few years ago in late 2002, there was a serious rumor that Microsoft was close to acquiring Yahoo!. Now, Microsoft, obviously frustrated over MSN Search is looking to dump it. Do you blame them? They have tried for over a year to launch a successful search engine and have failed at each attempt. Sub-domain Spam, keyword tag spam, blog spam, etc. has been the way to top rankings in MSN and thus very poor results. They have steadily lost market share ever since they went to their own index on February 1, 2005.

Microsoft shareholders have demanded a more aggressive approach to compete with Google, but it has been proven time and time again that Microsoft failed in hiring the wrong people. The people involved in search has no idea how to test, to set up a workable algorithm and how to combat spam.

Just the way the Microsoft reps were talking about MSN Search as if it was the poor step-child while they touted over Live.com in Boston during Webmaster World was a sign of what was coming.

It is now a two company race … with two familiar players who know each other very, very well: Yahoo! and Google.