Yahoo buying Chrome isn’t as crazy as it sounds
The Department of Justice still wants Google to be forced to sell off Chrome and Android. The judge presiding over the latest antitrust case hasn’t said much about it either way but some politicians seem to think it’s the correct way to punish Google for the financial indiscretions it has committed. (Editor’s note: are these considered crimes? Let me know what you think in the comments).
I don’t think this is going to happen and my dad always used to tell me it’s good to want things. Part of me wants to see Google smacked hard so it stops doing shady stuff, but the smarter part of me knows that there aren’t really any companies that could maintain projects like Android or Chrome without being equally, or even more, shady. It’s a good thing I’m not in charge of anything.
Android & Chill
One of the web’s longest-running tech columns, Android & Chill is your Saturday discussion of Android, Google, and all things tech.
To make this thing even more of a spectacle, Yahoo! (never forget the !) has thrown its hat into the ring and stated that it too would like to “buy” Chrome should Google be forced to sell. I’ll give you a moment to remember who Yahoo is and to stop laughing.
Yahoo has become the quintessential tech failure story. Believe it or not, at one time Yahoo had the power over the web that Google currently has; huge market share, investors and potential partners climbing over each other to grab a bite, and a seemingly endless potential. We saw how that turned out.
Today Yahoo is a shell of its former self and even the execs at the company are aware of it. One of the big reasons, in its own estimation, is that it lacks any sort of first-party web browser. Well, OK, a real web browser: Yahoo’s real owner, Apollo Global Management, happens to also own NetScape. You might have heard of it.
I get its reasoning, 100%. You might, too, even if you don’t know you get it. It has to do with the way web searches are done.
You can open up a web browser, go to Google.com, and type a search into the box in the center of the screen. Millions of people do just that every hour.
You can also open up a web browser (most of them, anyway) and just type in your search.
Both get the same results from the same place, one way just saved you some typing and page loading. Yahoo knows how important this is and is said to be actively developing its own browser anyway. I’d bet money that it will be a Chromium-based browser like most others, too. At least I hope Yahoo doesn’t think it can reinvent the wheel.
Is this good or bad? I’ll answer with another question: Can it be both?
Apollo Media Group owns a bunch of stuff from Norwegian Cruise Lines to web/cloud security provider and hosting company Rackspace. It has the money that would be needed to maintain the Chrome project.
It would also most likely shape Chrome’s future to its own benefit. At least I would expect that to happen should Chrome fall under its umbrella.
This highlights the real problem corporations that probably shouldn’t have so much control over the web, like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, or Google, are the ones with the financial means to lose money year after year building Chrome and its software ecosystem.
Companies that should be in charge, like Mozilla or Duck Duck Go, can’t afford it. Don’t get me started on companies like Perplexity or OpenAI having any sort of control over anything more important than a TV remote. It’s bad enough seeing Google holding it.
Yahoo needs Chrome but it most certainly doesn’t need it to be affiliated with Google. Google needs Chrome because it likes money, and some people say it uses Chrome to extort even more of it away from the competition. We need Chrome, but we don’t need it to be affiliated with any web search platform.
I have no idea what will happen and as I’ve said, I don’t think an American judge would ever force an American company to sell off an American asset, especially in the current political and financial climate. And yes, I know that America is more than the United States and you know what I mean.
I just thought seeing Yahoo jump into the mix was worth thinking and talking about for at least a few minutes.
