Kristy's Blog

Yes, an actual quote from Bill Gates, at the “All Things Digital” conference, when questioned about the Yahoo/Microsoft ill-fated romance. The conversation has widely been reported all over the web, and even got a mention in my favorite gossip rag, the Wall Street Journal.

http://d6.allthingsd.com/20080528/monopolies/

[Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer: To accelerate scale it made sense for us to consider a Yahoo acquisition. The truth of the matter is, if nobody else gets scale except the current leader, what happens? … Some day all the ads for The Wall Street Journal Online might be sold by one guy and he’ll tell you exactly how much your editorial is worth.

Kara: Yeah, like a monopoly. Interesting.

Walt: That’s a great point. That’s exactly the sort of argument that was made against Microsoft.

Ballmer: Am I saying there’s something wrong? I’m just saying we are guys who will compete. That’s all I’m saying.

Gates: Guys like us avoid monopolies. We like to compete.

Don’t I keep telling you I’m a geek?