According to YNet, Metacafe - one of the more popular video sharing services not called YouTube - has been acquired for $200-million. So who's next? Who's going to be left without a seat when the music stops playing?

Rather than jump right into the Peanut Butter Manifesto comment-frenzy, I decided to let it simmer for a bit while doing some serious NFL channel-surfing. So what's the deal other than the shrouded motives of Yahoo senior V.P. Brad Garlinghouse, who thinks the company is spreading its resources too thin? If you go way up the strategic food chain, it may suggest the idea of trying to be all things to all people is fundamentally flawed. Yahoo, for example, has acquired everything from Flickr and del.ico.us to blo.gs and Musicmatch. The question is where there is a common theme behind Yahoo's M&A activity other than the need to buy cool technology/services and smart people? For that matter, does any of the major players' acquisition plan make complete sense? What many companies seem to be forgetting is their core purpose. In other words, what are they are offering and is that offering clear to potential and existing customers? What is Yahoo's meaning in life other than attracting as many people as possible and making money from them. If that's the strategic premise, the acquisition of Overture makes complete sense. As for anything else, that's open for debate. Perhaps the biggest concern from Garlinghouse's rant, P.R. exercise, power move, etc. is the M&A dreams may be coming to end an abrupt end for all those Internet start-ups who were banking on being acquired as a way to escape the reality a flawed or non-existent business plan, and/or a dwindling bank account. For an interesting look at acquisitions made by Yahoo, Google and Microsoft, check out this chart compiled by Shmula.com. Some other measured takes on the PBM come from Rob Hyndman, who believes it hints at senior management changes within Yahoo, and Mathew Ingram, who post titles - This peanut butter is del.ici.us - is among the most creative I've seen in a long time. Tags: Yahoo, Brad Garlinghouse, M&A, peanut butter

Interesting to see Yahoo snap up Bix and MyBlogLog. I've had MYB's visitor widget on my blog for many months, and consider it one of the best ways to get a handle on the links that resonate with visitors. That said, I have not participated much in MYB's community efforts, which seem to be at the root of Yahoo's estimated $10-million acquisition. It's not that I don't like the community tool, it's more than I just haven't had the time to explore it properly. Stepping up the food chain, it is interesting to see a new wave of mini-acquisitions taking place these days as the big online players look enhance their feature portfolio. In Toronto, we're still on pins and needles (well, not really that excited!) to see if the rumours about Bubbleshare being acquired by News Corp. for $5-million are accurate. Bubbleshare's Albert Lai has been invisible in recent days (he even failed to appear at the recent mesh meet-up) so something must be up. Tags: Yahoo, MyBlogLog, Bix, M&A, Bubbleshare

What does Motorola's purchase of Good Technology mean? Does it suggest the consolidation of the mobile e-mail market is picking up steam? Will HP make a play for Seven Networks now that Good and Intellisync (Nokia) have been snapped up? Does this finally mean Research in Motion will see some real competition after owning the mobile e-market for the past five or six years? And what about the much-vaunted Motorola "Q" that was supposed to sell millions of units this year but appears to have stalled? It would be interesting to see how much Motorola coughed up for Good, which has raised more than $200-million in private equity from investors such as Kleiner Perkins. Canaccord Capital analyst Peter Misek said Good had no choice but to sell because the 470-employee company was "running out of money". For more, check out Blogging Stocks. Tags: Motorola, RIM, mobile e-mail, Kleiner Perkins

Has it already been more than a year since eBay decided to cough up as much as $4.2-billion for Skype? The International Herald Tribune takes a look at the deal and how Skype has evolved within the eBay empire. So did eBay get suckered into making a pre-emptive bid ahead of rival suitors such as Google, or did eBay made a savvy move by acquiring the world's leading VoIP player? So far, there has been little indication eBay has been able to do anything with Skype strategically other than giving sellers the option of putting "Skype Me" buttons on their stores. On the other hand, Skype as a telecom service provider is showing promise as a standalone business. In the past year, the number of registered Skype users has more than doubled to 136 million, while Skype's revenue is expected to more than triple this year to $195-million from $60-million in 2005. But is that enough to justify spending $4.2-billion? The answer - and apologies for being so wishy-washy - is only time will tell. But let's conservatively assume Skype's sales see compound growth 25% over the next five years. This would result in sales of $675-million by 2011 with healthy profit margins. That's a pretty good business. Let's also assume eBay can use Skype to get into the pay-per-call market, which the Kelsey Group forecasts will become a $1.4-billion to $4-billion business by 2009. Assuming Skype captures 10% of the PPC market, that would be another $140-million to $400-million of sales - boosting Skype's total revenue to $810-million to $1.1-billion. Again, that's a pretty good business. Of course, the $4.2-billion price-tag will always be used as a benchmark on how the deal is "valued". But if Skype grows as expected, its acquisition may look like a pretty good move in five years. Tags: eBay, Skype, VOIP, M&A