Microsoft-Facebook: A match made in Hades

If the rumors are true, and Microsoft is indeed considering buying Facebook, Google can start the celebration now. Buying Facebook would hurt not help Microsoft's battle with its online rival, and end up being billions of dollars badly spent.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft bankers have approached Facebook in talks aimed at Microsoft buying out Facebook, according to Bloomberg.

Last year, Microsoft bought a 1.6% stake in Facebook, at a cost that put the value of Facebook at approximately $15 billion.

That price is most likely inflated, and possibly wildly so. Bloomberg quotes Toan Tran, a Morningstar Inc. analyst, as saying $15 billion is a "risky" price.

That's putting it mildly. Social networking sites in general, and Facebook in particular, are all the rage at the moment, artificially inflating the price. When the Next Big Thing comes along, that price will plummet. Microsoft will have spent billions unnecessarily.

There are worse problems than just price with a Microsoft-Facebook deal. Facebook has nothing to do with Microsoft's core products or mission. There's no synergy between Windows and Facebook, between Office and Facebook, or between any other Microsoft cash cow and Facebook.

Facebook would allow Microsoft to sell more ads, certainly, but selling ads isn't the future of the company. Figuring out a way to extend its core technologies to the Internet, and making money off them, is the future. Buying Facebook would be a distraction from that. In addition, the difference in corporate cultures between the companies is immense, and most likely not bridgeable.

Buying Facebook after being shunned by Yahoo simply isn't the answer to Microsoft's online problems.

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