X

Say what? MSN and Yahoo: "mutts"?

In offering words of caution about a rumored Microsoft-Yahoo merger, one observer provides a refreshing retake on the "best of breed" metaphor.

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
Expertise AI, tech, language, grammar, writing, editing Credentials
  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
See full bio
Jon Skillings

Rumors late last week had it that Microsoft and Yahoo might launch a merger in order to better take on the top dog of the Internet, Google. Wall Street and Silicon Valley chewed on that bone for the better part of the day Friday, but in the end there wasn't much there after all.

A number of tech and finance types offered words of caution along the way about the merger speculation. One in particular provided a welcome respite for those of us accustomed to hearing high-tech marketeers go on about "best of breed" solutions. Charles Moldow, a general partner at Foundation Capital and a former mergers and acquisitions banker at Merrill Lynch, said that combining the assets of Microsoft and Yahoo would be unlikely to create organic growth, summing it up this way:

"You don't get a pure breed by breeding two mutts," he said, "not that I'm calling MSN and Yahoo mutts."