OTN TechBlog

Am I alone in thinking that Microsoft's $6 billion acquisition of new-media advertising agency aQuantive ($442m in revenue last year) is as sure a sign of a bubble as Petco.com's infamous Superbowl halftime ad - this time, an online advertising one?

(Speaking of bubbles, I predicted the last one in 2000 - one of an all-together different kind, of course. No one is alleging accounting chicanery here.)

Does Google have Microsoft in such a small "box", as Scoble contends, that the latter has thrown all financial decision-making checks-and-balances (what a perfect metaphor) out the window?

I can see the flames now - "How can an Oracle employee question the wisdom of titanic acquisitions?" - but flamers, it's hard for me to believe that you think  Oracle's acquisition targets don't make sense, even if you question the underlying acquisition strategy. In contrast, Microsoft has paid $6 billion to become an Web design/ad agency (remember Razorfish?).

Mystified.