S&P Sees Microsoft-Yahoo JV, Google-Apple Tensions
‘Tis the season to make year 2009 predictions. Today, Standard & Poor’s analysts released their predictions for the Internet in 2009. Scott Kessler, Internet analyst with S&P, says Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) will “finally bury the hatchet” next year “and decide to join forces to better compete against Google” (GOOG). Kessler says Microsoft won’t buy Yahoo (well, they’ve already said they were no longer interested in that), but rather pursue a joint venture “related to search.” He thinks that could lift Yahoo shares, to which he assigns a “Buy” rating.