Deal Note: Should Yahoo Acquire Facebook?
imho, no - no way.
If Yahoo acqs Facebook, it will flickr/delicious-ize it: it will bring innovation to a slow but steady creaking halt (despite whatever indy structure is cooked up).
Yahoo's challenge isn't amping reach in a rich group of segments.
Yahoo's challenge (should you choose to accept it) is to redefine branding.
A year or two ago, I noted that there was an enormous market gap for Yahoo to be a social search pioneer. They blew it. Myspace did it instead.
Now, Yahoo stands on the cusp of an opportunity of perhaps similar magnitude - revolutionizing branding.
Sure, there's an argument to be made that Facebook will help them do this - but let's note that that argument is in no way the rationale driving this deal.
I would spend half the amount Facebook wants on a huge number of experiments with a very focused intent - revolutionizing brands. Of course, Yahoo's labs mean this can never happen, but that's another story...
NB - I'm starting deal notes to kick off discussions around key deals, so leave your perspective in the comments if you're so inclined...
I believe if Yahoo is going to be successful long-term, they need to think long term. And the long term view is that buying facebook would be a huge mistake.
What they ought to do instead is make their 360 platfom totally open source, put it out there and let people create their own networks on any server or with any permutation they want.
