Ballmer wants Yahoo deal "done quickly"

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 Dec 2008 at 10:54

Steve Ballmer has reiterated his support of a web advertising deal with Yahoo, and pushed the company to make it happen sooner rather than later.

"I think good ideas are usually better done quickly than slowly, so it would probably be better for both of us, and certainly for Yahoo, if we were to do it sooner than later," he tells the Wall Street Journal.

"Together we would have more advertisers... which means we'd have more relevant ads on our page. We'd have higher monetisation levels possible in front of us because there would be more people bidding on more keywords. Most importantly, Google would have perhaps a real, credible competitor sooner," Ballmer adds.

Microsoft recently hired former Yahoo search executive Qi Lu as president of its online services business, and admitted the acquisition would make any deal easier, though denied that this was the motivation for pursuing Lu.

"Obviously, the logistics of any such integration can only be simpler by having somebody who will know both sides. But that was not a factor in hiring Qi," says Ballmer.

"Our focus on portal and search is super-strong, and, even if we never do a Yahoo deal or anything else, I wanted to have Qi come on board. It is kind of a bonus that, if something happened with Yahoo, I'm sure it's somewhat simpler."