Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo in what analysts regard as a response to the seemingly unstoppable rise of Google.
The emergence of Google has been staggering for observers and threatening for established players in every market it has entered.
Microsoft's response could level the playing field.
"This consolidates the marketplace down to Google versus Microsoft," says Colin Gillis, analyst at stockbroker Canaccord Adams.
Broad growth
Google's online mapping and internet-based phone calls to photo storage and news alerts - not to mention its unrelenting innovative streak - has enabled it to remain two steps ahead of its most bitter rivals Yahoo and Microsoft.
Consequently, Google is no longer a company taking pride in being simple and effective; rather it has ballooned and is now a multi-headed high tech beast eager and willing to not only get involved but increasingly take charge of every area online.
It is a strategy that could make Google vulnerable to attacks.
Some say the company is spreading itself thin by over-diversifying its product range.
Advert reliance
Larry Page and Sergey Brin - are the type of young men most parents would dream of their daughters bringing home.
Profile: The Google founders
More crucially, its source of income remains largely one-dimensional - and therefore potentially vulnerable.
During a Google search, "sponsored links", or adverts, appear on the rights. They have been placed by hundreds of thousands of companies, which have picked particular words as triggers for their ads to appear.
Every click on an advert brings revenue to Google; advertisers, in turn, know what they pay for, so everyone is happy.
Active founders
The Google model was initially hammered out by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, now both in their early 30s.
The two met at Stanford University in the mid-1990s, where they were doing doctorates in computer sciences, and became friends while developing a new system of internet search engine from their college dormitory.
Initially called BackRub, they created a software system whereby the search engine would list results according to the popularity of the pages, after realising that more times than not the most popular result would also be the most useful.
After changing its name to Google they dropped out of college and the rest, as they say, would by now be history - except the story continues.
Google now finds itself at the top of the tree, just as dinosaurs like IBM once did.
But Mr Page and Mr Brin know full well what the threats are, and they are ready to take on their opponents.
The emergence of Google has been staggering for observers and threatening for established players in every market it has entered.
Microsoft's response could level the playing field.
"This consolidates the marketplace down to Google versus Microsoft," says Colin Gillis, analyst at stockbroker Canaccord Adams.
Broad growth
Google's online mapping and internet-based phone calls to photo storage and news alerts - not to mention its unrelenting innovative streak - has enabled it to remain two steps ahead of its most bitter rivals Yahoo and Microsoft.
Consequently, Google is no longer a company taking pride in being simple and effective; rather it has ballooned and is now a multi-headed high tech beast eager and willing to not only get involved but increasingly take charge of every area online.
It is a strategy that could make Google vulnerable to attacks.
Some say the company is spreading itself thin by over-diversifying its product range.
Advert reliance
Larry Page and Sergey Brin - are the type of young men most parents would dream of their daughters bringing home.
Profile: The Google founders
More crucially, its source of income remains largely one-dimensional - and therefore potentially vulnerable.
During a Google search, "sponsored links", or adverts, appear on the rights. They have been placed by hundreds of thousands of companies, which have picked particular words as triggers for their ads to appear.
Every click on an advert brings revenue to Google; advertisers, in turn, know what they pay for, so everyone is happy.
Active founders
The Google model was initially hammered out by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, now both in their early 30s.
The two met at Stanford University in the mid-1990s, where they were doing doctorates in computer sciences, and became friends while developing a new system of internet search engine from their college dormitory.
Initially called BackRub, they created a software system whereby the search engine would list results according to the popularity of the pages, after realising that more times than not the most popular result would also be the most useful.
After changing its name to Google they dropped out of college and the rest, as they say, would by now be history - except the story continues.
Google now finds itself at the top of the tree, just as dinosaurs like IBM once did.
But Mr Page and Mr Brin know full well what the threats are, and they are ready to take on their opponents.