How Important is Corporate Culture: Yahoo vs. Microsoft

The news this morning is as Techcrunch, Mashable and the rest said: HUGE. As Yahoo weathers changes, Microsoft bids $44.6B for them. Tremendous business story, of course, especially if it actually goes forward. (WAPO print today missed the story but there was a sliver on Terry Semel finally leaving the board.)

I have to wonder how much corporate culture matters in the definition of great acquisitions. The common street wisdom is that many mergers (not what's proposed here, I think) don't work - meaning that they don't ultimately provide shareholders with value and there are integration "issues". Yahoo once flew under the pirate flag. Then that was handed down to Google. Now - hey, who has the pirate flag now? Anyhow, Microsoft is clearly part of the establishment. They are the P&G of the computing world. I have worked with Microsoft in the past and been around the fringes of Yahoo so I don't claim any untimate knowledge into their "cultures." Are they compatible on that level?

Somehow, while this might create a lot of business excitement, it feels like a big surrender.

Comments

[Samantha Warren]

Is there a possibility (in the event this does take place) MS could promote Yahoo as a separate brand in order to preserve their current culture? Similar to the approach Corbis took when acquiring Veer?
http://tinyurl.com/3yvknt