The New York Times reported that Microsoft talked to Google about acquiring the company. Bill Gates denied the report. Who’s lying? Dan Gillmor walks us through the possibilities. Dan sounds like he thinks it’s more likely that the lie emanates from the Google side, since Gates, as a public-company chairman, has to follow some pretty strict rules — and the investors who are plotting an IPO for Google have a “pump and dump” incentive to talk up Google’s prospects.
I dunno. Google was a pretty hot item before anyone read any headlines about a Microsoft acquisition. Anything is possible here, but Microsoft has a long history of FUD — sowing “fear, uncertainty and doubt” — and concern about regulatory wrist-slaps would not seem high on the list in Redmond in the wake of the Bush administration’s roll-over-and-die approach to the Microsoft antitrust settlement.
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