Yahoo to Microsoft: Do I Hear $32 Per Share? $33?
by John Paczkowski
Posted on April 15, 2008 at 8:05 AM PT
Now here’s something you don’t hear every day: Google is losing search market share to Yahoo in the states. According to a new quarterly study by SEO outfit SearchIgnite, spending by search advertisers on Google (GOOG) slipped to 70.4% (down from 74.5%), while spending on Yahoo (YHOO) grew to 24.2% in March from 19.6% at the end of the fourth quarter. Breaking it down month-by-month, Yahoo saw gains of 79.2% in January, 37.3% in February, and 43.9% in March.
A surprising trend, given the general state of affairs over at Yahoo recently and one that may, may, bode well for the first-quarter results the company is due to report on April 22. In the face of Microsoft’s (MSFT) hostile takeover offer and its claims that Yahoo’s business is on a fast downward spiral, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has insisted that the company will meet its first-quarter projections.
That may well be the case, if SearchIgnite’s metrics prove accurate. Said Roger Barnette, president of SearchIgnite, “If these numbers are an accurate reflection of the market, it could lead Yahoo to surpass expectations.“
Meanwhile, spending by search advertisers on MSN declined to 5.4% from 5.9%, quarter over quarter. No wonder Microsoft wants Yahoo so badly.
