Why I’ve switched to Yahoo!

A couple of weeks ago, I claimed that I was prepared to ditch Yahoo! if Microsoft bought them. Now that Microsoft has withdrawn its bid for Yahoo, I’ve decided to make efforts to use Yahoo more than I have in the past.

Yahoo’s ability to withstand a Microsoft bid was based in Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s claims that Yahoo has more potential and is worth more than Microsoft was willing to pay for it. Yang wanted Microsoft to pay $37 per share, and Microsoft only offered $33 per share. Now today, analysts are saying that if Yang is on a limited time line to get the trading price of Yahoo stock above $33 to prove he was right about not selling out to Microsoft.

I believe that Microsoft ownership of Yahoo would be very bad for the Internet. While Microsoft has currently withdrawn its bid, there is always the possibility that Microsoft will, in the future, attempt again to buy Yahoo. High stock prices are the biggest deterrent from future buyout attempts.

I want to do what I can to allow Yahoo stock prices to increase. I figure that I can do this by giving Yahoo as much legitimate business that I reasonably can. The easiest way to start is by switching the default search engine in my web browser to point to Yahoo. Perhaps I’ll find additional ways to give Yahoo more of my business. This is my small role in keeping Yahoo away from Microsoft.