Eric Schmidt made comments at a Tokyo launch for a new Nexus tablet, regarding the failure of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in launching their Maps application. However, he has also hinted at a desire for Google to reach out to Yahoo and become their new search engine partner.
According to Schmidt, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) would love to be Yahoo’s search partner and replace their current engine, which is Microsoft’s Bing. Kenneth Maxwell, a Dow Jones reporter, was cited by Forbes.com, as having been at the event. Maxwell did confirm that he was indeed there, and that Schmidt did say that Google has an interest in working with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO).
Maxwell’s statement to Forbes reads as follows:
“Yes, I can confirm, Eric Schmidt definitely said they’d be interested in working with Yahoo US. He also said nothing doing for the time being, but they would be interested. It was also mentioned to him that there is new management at Yahoo US with a Google connection. But he played it pretty straight…. He also said they had expressed this interest to Yahoo before on a number of occasions.”
Schmidt is an executive chairman of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), and was involved in the talks of just such a partnership with Yahoo, back in 2008. This was following on the heels of the Microsoft buyout, which fell apart, but prior to Carol Bartz approaching Steve Ballmer, in the hopes of striking a deal. Google and Yahoo both wanted to reach an agreement, and both parties worked to make it happen, however, the government blocked the deal from going through.
The most interesting point to be taken in all of this, is that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s new CEO, Marissa Mayer, is a former top developer from Google. She left Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) earlier this year, and was named Yahoo’s CEO, effective immediately. While Mayer has already told Yahoo to focus more on user experience, rather than achieving higher profits, she is yet to make her speech regarding Yahoo’s new direction. However, she was one of the driving factors in Google’s simple, yet effective search page, and no doubt, she sees the intrinsic value a good search engine could have at Yahoo. A deal between Mayer and Schmidt would only make sense, due to the fact that she knows how effective Google Search really is. After all, she built it.
