Google launches hostile bid for Apple to prevent Bing search default on iPad

As reported by Peter Kafka, the rumors that Apple was planning to ship the iPad with Bing as the default search engine appear to be true, as an even more shocking rumor had Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) launching a hostile bid to acquire Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), making its way round traders desks on Wall Street after market closed today. This “Bing Thing” apparently was the last straw for Eric Schmidt who last year had to “resign” from the board of Apple due to conflicts of  interest, due to the Droid and other related Google moves into Apple’s core markets. Note that this is not the first time this rumor has surfaced. It had been previously speculated as far back as June 2007 on Mashable.com.

As reported by Maria Bartoromo on CNBC, Google’s attempt to acquire Apple at a 20% premium to Apple’s closing price of $234 a share values the iPad maker at over $250B market cap. A particularly aggressive move considering that Google itself only sported a market cap of $180B as of close of the market on March 31st. This led Wall Street pundits to believe that Google was not acting alone in its purchase attempt and in fact had formed a partnership in order to accomplish the deal.

As more details began to surface, it appeared that the acquisition was in fact a three way company trade, whereby Google would acquire Apple, with Steve Jobs being sent to Microsoft to assume the position of CEO in place of the retiring Steve Ballmer, (who is confident with a little more practice he can get an invite to Dancing With The Stars). While Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) with a market cap of just $129B appeared as backing up Google in the purchase, in return agreed to transfer the rights of MySQL to Google, admitting that a) they don’t know what to do with this open source stuff and b) Larry Ellison wanted to see his friend and wedding photographer Steve Jobs, managing Microsoft, even for just one day. In fact Techradar.com last year spookily predicted that this might in fact happen. Larry half jokingly said “this way at least my Zune will get an upgrade.”

But is this all because of the iPad? Although the pre-orders indicate that the iPad will be a big hit, a review by a famous technophile reflected many concerns about the iPad’s features. For some the move comes as a particular shock given the credible exclusive from TheMalaysianInsider.com of a GPad being readied by Google. Late Breaking Update: The #nodata movement has been confirmed as an additional reason why Google is making their move. Sergy Brin remarked “nodata is no good for no reason and this is no country for old men.” His comments may have been taken out of context, but there you have it.

Meanwhile the Chinese government had no comment on the speculation of a Google acquisition of Apple. They merely continued their support of Chinese OEM company Shenzhen Great Long Brother Industrial Co., who claims that Apple’s iPad is a copy of the design of its P88 tablet as reported in PC Magazine last month. This only added insult to injury for Google whose attempts to pull out of China’s search market and relocating to Hong Kong (a Chinese territory) were mocked by the appearance of Goojje.com a Google page knock off, designed by a Chinese University student.

How will the financial markets react to all of this news tomorrow?
“It is unlikely to phase the markets” said an investor in both Google and Apple who did not wish to be named.
All 4 companies are likely to continue to grow in valuation, because for the average investor, an April Fool and his money are soon parted.

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