When referring to the Google – Yahoo! – Microsoft triangle, one thing is certain: there will always be complaints: people complain about Google’s domination, about Yahoo!’s services, about Microsoft’s business practices and the list could go on and on. And, while everyone has the right to complain, one thing needs to be mentioned: these companies don’t have to be fair!

So Google is dominating the search industry? So they are giving people a hard time when it comes to SEO? So they will most likely be rewarding the big players with great rankings even more in the future? Well, guess what: it’s their company and they can do whatever they see fit.

I’m sure it comes as no surprise that everyone and their dog is talking about the fact that Microsoft is “officially” not interested in Yahoo! but it this actually a scenario people believe? Given the way things have unfolded up until this point, I’d definitely say that it is not the case.

Basically, we have two big companies playing cat & mouse and that’s about it. As I’ve mentioned on one of my previous guest posts here on MarketingPilgrim, we have two companies, one willing to buy at the right price and one willing to sell at the right price. And, since they seem to be unable to reach an agreement as far as that price is concerned, guess what they will do?

The Microsoft and Yahoo! Q1 earnings reports represent important variables which need to be taken into consideration, so that analyzing them for a moment is definitely a must. It’s only natural that these earnings reports as well as the reactions of the two companies leave a lot of room for interpretation and, once again, we can indeed say that the week was anything but boring.

The folks over at Yahoo! do seem to have an edge thanks to their Q1 report which, let’s face it, is not bad at all. In fact, it may just represent the missing ingredient which could, why not, convince Microsoft to raise the bid. In fact, Jerry Yang’s reaction (“Our board and management team continue to be open to any and all alternatives, including a Microsoft deal”) definitely makes it clear that Yahoo! sees this Q1 report as an opportunity to obtain a far more tempting offer.

An extremely interesting weekly highlight definitely has to be the Google – comScore drama and, given the way things have unfolded, it’s clearly something worth looking into, as it illustrates how everything can (and, in most cases, will) backfire if you “dare” to mess with the big G.

Everything started with comScore’s 1.8% paid click growth for the first quarter announcement, which has naturally generated quite a bit of buzz. Is this the beginning of the end for this giant? Is this an early sign that Google is beginning to collapse under its own weight (and, given the fact that the competition isn’t exactly fierce, that’s the most dangerous scenario as far as the big G is concerned)? Are they starting to pay the price for all of their controversial decisions? Nope!