by Amber Benge

Created on: February 26, 2008

Yahoo's bold rejection of Microsoft might be the best decision for everyone involved. These two organizations are very different in their background, purposes, and goals. If Microsoft actually did acquire Yahoo, they would have to find a way to merge cultures, which would never work according to most skeptics.

Yahoo is based out of Sunnyvale, California in the Silicone Valley with almost 14,000 employees. Yahoo appeals to a younger generation of workers, holding rock concerts and ultimate frisbee tournaments for employees. Microsoft is a larger corporation, but is at least a generation older with a different mentality. The joining of two such different philosophies would be much like marrying an elephant to a flamingo. As amusing as it sounds, it could never really work.

Rob Soloman was a Yahoo executive in charge of shopping and auctions before he left the company last year. His comments to the New York Times just fueled skepticism over the absurdity of a merger in the first place. Soloman said, "Microsoft and Yahoo are completely at odds with one another" when it comes to technology. Microsoft would have to find a way to integrate two complexly incompatible systems that the companies use to run their internet data.

Both companies have a large customer base for their email services that would total a combined 500 million accounts. By merging companies, consumer email services would be disrupted, losing a lot of business for both Microsoft and Yahoo.

Perhaps Yahoo's bold rejection came after great thought about the fate of Hotmail after Microsoft tried to absorb their services in 1997. When Microsoft tried to change methods of Hotmail's operations, they failed miserably and embarrassed everyone involved. It took almost four years for Microsoft to make it right and in the mean time, many Hotmail users gave up and switched services.

The very systems that structure the heart of Microsoft are competing with Yahoo's methods even now. For example, Yahoo relies heavily on a programming tool called Hadoop, but Microsoft is built around the competing system called Dryad. These two can never collide and somebody would have to surrender their whole school of thought.

Yahoo's employees also played a substantial role in the company's rejection of Microsoft. An estimated ten percent of Yahoo employees said they would refuse to work under Microsoft for any reason. An even bigger percentage stayed leery at Microsoft's possible interference. Yahoo must be praised for staying loyal its employee base and honoring their overall wish to remain independent of Microsoft's control.

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