Microsoft walks away *UPDATED*

Microsoft could not find an offer – The offer – that would make Yahoo! change its mind. The software giant has given up during the weekend, a decision that puts an end to months of speculations.

This means that Microsoft and Yahoo! will remain 2nd and 3rd in the lucrative business of web search and, probably more significant, related advertising. As The Economist explains here, Microsoft’s idea behind adding Yahoo! was to challenge the clear leader, Google. Microsoft wanted Yahoo! in order to add critical mass to Microsoft's own advertising platform, to make it more competitive.

The result, today, is that Google stays the unchallenged leader in web searches, as data clearly shows...!

Share of Searches
Total U.S., March 2008

Source: comScore

UPDATE: See how the markets responded on Monday...

Tough Year for Sarkozy

Here is an interesting piece that The Economist has published tonight. The text gives a good overview of the first year in office of President Sarkozy in France.

As the article explains, "Sarko" has had a way more difficult first year than what he expected. He is actually the most unpopular first-year president in the history of the Fifth Republic, according to The Economist. This tells a lot...! Among other factors, The Economist blames the "Sarkozy Paradox" (I have invented this one!) regarding several economic issues for this low popularity.

Tonight, the French media indicate that resutls of a new poll that will be published this weekend show Sarkozy’s popularity has continued to drop over the last month.

Do You Trust Nicolas Sarkozy?

Source: TNS Sofres.

This proves that the very long interview that Sarkozy gave last week to convince people that France is on the right track has not reached its goals yet.

Global Press Freedom

This week, Freedom House, an American think tank, has released highlights from its annual survey of global press freedom. The survey results show deterioration in the level of press freedom worldwide for a sixth straight year.

According to the results, Finland and Iceland have the world’s more free press. Canada finishes in 21st position, just behind the U.S. The report blames increasing media concentration in Canada as well as isolated cases of political and legislative environment pressures. The disparition of TQS in Quebec would not improve this aspect...

North Korea and Cuba are among the countries that occupy the bottom slots... the usual suspects as The Economist names them!

Global Press Freedom, 2008
By population, %

Source: Freedom House

Ethanol, Corn and Food Prices

For those of you who can read in French, here is an interesting post published on Radio-Canada.ca. It explains well the tradeoff between nationalist policies and the free market in the current context of an expected global food crisis.

This food crisis has emerged in the past months and is due to higher food prices. In some country, people can’t afford food anymore, a situation that explains events such as the riots in Haiti a few weeks ago. The increases in food prices stem partly from the stepped-up use of food crops for biofuels and partly from other more fundamental factors, such as rapid income growth in emerging economies (e.g. China), high fertilizer prices, low stocks, and droughts.

Share of Corn used for Ethanol Production in the U.S.

Source: The World Bank

Corn prices rose by about 60 percent in 2005-06, largely because of the increased use in ethanol production. U.S. and world corn stocks have now reached near-record lows.

People Injured by Tornadoes in Virginia

More than 200 people have been injured today by tornadoes that have hit Virginia today. A tornado warning remained in effect Monday evening in the state.

Based on the trends of the last three years, there are 1160 tornadoes on average in the U.S every year.

However, what is important to know is that only a small fraction of these storms actually kill people. Tornadoes have killed 255 people since 2005.

Share of Killer Tornadoes in the U.S.
(Based on a 3-year average, 2005-2007)

Source: NOAA's National Weather Service