Either Microsoft or Yahoo could emerge as a partner to the online auction site in facing down the potent threat posed by Google. The stunning financial numbers Google:
Strength - exceptional search technology delivers relevant advertising to site visitors.
Weakness - as a company it's solely dependent on one revenue stream, online advertising; of course, that stream was a flood of $2.25 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2006.
Yahoo:
Strength - leadership ties to Hollywood and a highly effective ad team have enabled the company to pull in premium brand-name advertisers.
Weakness - upgrades to paid search algorithms are rolling out as a glacial pace, hampering the relevance of paid search advertising displayed to site visitors.
Microsoft:
Strength - money, and lots of it; Microsoft can afford to sweeten a deal with eBay, and the board may be hard-pressed to say no to a richer offer from Redmond.
Weakness - Microsoft is a relative newcomer to search advertising, even though the company reportedly made a billion dollars in online advertising last year; its publisher network called adCenter debuts in July 2006.
Much of eBay's concerns have been driven by Google Base, a free service where users can list their items for sale; and by Google Payments, an alternative to PayPal that has yet to fully debut from Google.
Both Google services offer the potential to steal away eBay customers. However, eBay does have a lengthy track record with its business and PayPal is a familiar brand online with 105 million accounts.
It will take Google time to gain some traction with both Base and Payments. Google's high brand recognition associates it with search, not e-commerce or online payments. As with all things related to technology, that could change easily online.
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eBay Seeking A Google Protector
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