史上最糟的5起互联网并购案

GeoCities

    雅虎管理层在互联网泡沫时期出的另一个昏招，就是以36亿美元收购GeoCities的交易。GeoCities算是一种早期的在线博客服务，但是雅虎收购GeoCities之后基本上什么也没有做。这项以花哨炫目的页面出名的服务就这样被雅虎束之高阁，任其自生自灭，直到最后被彻底关闭。

GeoCities

    In yet another example of poor leadership during the dotcom bubble, Yahoo acquired GeoCities, a sort of early online blogging service, for $3.6 billion in overpriced stock. Then Yahoo essentially did nothing. The service, known for its garish, neon pages, was left to rot for years until it was shut down.

MySpace

    2006年，鲁伯特•默多克的新闻集团（News Group）收购了当时最热门的社交网络MySpace。5.2亿美元的收购价格至少与互联网时期某些漫天要价的案例相比还是较为合理的。但是随着用户开始蜂拥奔向刚刚创业的无名小卒、后来的社交网络王者Facebook，就连5.2亿美金的代价也显得太高了。两年前新闻集团以3500万美元的白菜价将MySpace转手卖出。

MySpace

    Acquiring MySpace in 2006 gave Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS) the hottest social network of its time. The price, $520 million, seemed relatively reasonable, at least compared with some of the excess of the bubble era. But even that turned out to be far too much after users started flocking to Facebook (FB), the social networking upstart and soon-to-be king. News Corp. sold MySpace, a shell of its former self, two years ago for $35 million.

网景

    美国在线1999年以将近100亿美元的价格收购了网景通讯公司（Netscape Communications），这100亿美元换来的是一个正在过时的网页浏览器和网站。当时美国在线的领导在想什么呢？我们只知道美国在线尝试着把网景公司重新改造成一个门户网站，但是失败了，另外还发表了一些关于电子商务的空洞言论，之后就没了下文。最终还是由于在浏览器战争时代，微软因涉嫌侵犯了网景公司的专利，让美国在线从微软那获得了一笔罚款，然后去年又获得了一笔，算是在网景身上见着了一点回头钱。但是这次并购对网景公司来说却是重大失败，现在网景的浏览器已经寿终正寝多年了。

Netscape

    AOL got itself a fading web browser and has-been website when it acquired Netscape Communications in 1999 for nearly $10 billion. What were AOL executives thinking? It's not exactly clear other than a failed effort to remake Netscape into a web portal and some vague comments about e-commerce. AOL was eventually able to wring some money out of Microsoft (MSFT,Fortune 500) for antitrust violations during the browser war era and some more last year for Netscape's patents. But the acquisition remains a big loser while Netscape, the browser, is long dead.