Ok, so the person in charge of regulating the communications and other SEC controlled antitrust capable industries says, or acts, like AOL and Microsoft can police each other to ensure that things don't get too out of control. This is not an exact quote from the article which appeared in the Wired article I am reading, which means it is several months old, if not pre 2002. I have just one question to ask.
What happens when, not if, AOL and Microsoft merge? Right now they hate each other, but what happens at the point in time that those two companies become one/ I mean the AOL Time Warner 'merger' shook out to AOL in charge when I am sure that it was originally supposed to be the other way around. Eventually, after the two of them buy up all the properties in areas of their interest there will be one merger target left, and that is the other side.
Eventually, I have no doubt, the only room for growth for the two companies will be to make the two companies one. The only question in my mind now is what exactly the time frame is. right now there is a lot of other companies for those two giants to swallow, seemingly a cable company for supper and a newspaper chain or two for dessert on AOL's side at least, and while their interests intersect very rarely for now, eventually AOL will step into the domain of Microsoft and vice versa, and you know what?
Then it will be only be a matter of time before they join. The only hope is strong competition and open source theology. Between those maybe the world has a chance to not become the fodder of the war between the two, and the guinea pigs of AOL Time Warner Disney Microsoft Inc. This, I think, is the reason we need more rules against mergers and acquisitions, and not less.
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