MSFT Integrating YHOO but the Deal Is Not Done

Hmm, it looks like MSFT is already planning a Yahoo integration and the deal hasn't even closed yet.

Johnson took the opportunity to make the case for the merger. After speaking
with executives from big media, "I know there is a desire for more competition
in search and online advertising," he wrote. Without the strength derived from
combining the two companies, "there's less innovation, less competition and less
value being generated for consumers, advertisers, and publishers."

A Yahoo and MSFT team-up may be one of the few things that could compete with Google's domenance of of search and online advertising. I still think MSFT stock got clobbered because of percieved weakness in YHOO and wether MSFT is overpaying for the company. Also I would be willing to bet that quite a bit of the engineeing talent at YHOO would jump ship if they were taken over. I guess it comes down to the integration process. If MSFT can pull it off with little to no loss of headcount and competitive ad-rate increases then the stock is a steal trading at a 15.75 P/E with a 25% growth rate.