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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
SAP CEO: Microsoft should have bought Yahoo

By Larry Dignan and Dan Farber, CNET News.com
May 06, 2008
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/SAP-CEO-Microsoft-should-have-bought-Yahoo/0,130061733,339288694,00.htm


If Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer were to call SAP CEO Henning Kagermann for advice, he would be told to spend his money on Yahoo.

That call isn't totally out of the question given that Ballmer and Kagermann are partners on many fronts. Microsoft could still view SAP as a buyout target.

In 2004, Microsoft and SAP were in talks to merge but nothing came of it. It could be that Kagermann hopes that Microsoft acquires Yahoo so it will be distracted and not get any ideas about trespassing on SAP's enterprise software territory.

Speaking this week at SAP's Sapphire conference in Florida, Kagermann said: -For Microsoft, the challenges are more on the side of the consumer space not the enterprise space".

When asked about integration, Kagermann noted that if Microsoft were going to bid on Yahoo the chances are good that it would have had a solid integration plan.

Should Yahoo have taken the deal? Kagermann said it was unclear whether Yahoo can remain an independent company. Translation: Yeah, Yahoo should have taken the deal.


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