Maven: The Source Is the MicroHoo Issue

Said the dude:

It's been talked about for a long time, ever since Google came into the picture. I can't imagine a more perfect deal. You can't find a stronger buyer than Microsoft, and while it would spur a lot of political and regulatory noise, everyone knows in the end that the deal would go through.

How curious that a risk-arb sales guy would think along these lines, huh?

Investors, journalists are often on the sort of deadlines that would be your worst nightmare. You should respect them for the bulk of their work but be on the lookout for this sort of stuff. Couldn't they have rounded up anyone better, anyone more informed and, if not in the know, at least more qualified to give an unbiased larger perspective?

The Business Press Maven has always like the perspective of a steel-cage match, whether it's Johnny Drama in last week's Entourage episode or two articles battling it out for supremacy in a fight of ideas. Isolate different people or different perspectives in a little trap, and let the better emerge. Which Time Warner(TWX) headline was right this week: "Time Warner posts profit on cable, AOL" or "Time Warner profit slips 18 percent"?

That's much too long of a windup to say that with all the handwringing being done over changes in the news field, the investor who takes advantage emerges better off. There was a time when an investor was at the mercy of the perspective of the one headline in the one paper he read. Today? With all the news aggregators, you can get your headlines a la carte. You can compare and contrast. Any investor who doesn't is no investor, in The Business Press Maven's haughty little book.

So let's give my coveted "Nod of Approval" award, after this week in which the only hope for newspapers seems to be a Rupert Murdoch buyout, to the new way of delivering news. Readers -- certainly investors -- are better served than when it was a truck.

1 What would best describe your stance heading into the coming week of trading? Bullish Bearish Neutral 2 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move up in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities 3 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move down in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities View the results without voting

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