Microsoft says has 92.6 pct of Fast, extends bid
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Microsoft Corp  said on Monday that it controls 92.6 percent of Norwegian search software firm Fast Search &amp; Transfer , and extended its takeover offer to Thursday from a Friday deadline.
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TechWeb - Microsoft is paying a 42% premium for Fast Search & Transfer, but the technology could be a gold mine for the first big vendor to get it right.
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Microsoft Corp  said on Monday that its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo Inc  was generous and it expects Yahoo's board and shareholders to agree to the buyout quickly.
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The Redmond, Wash.-based company said it earned $2.9 billion, or 27 cents per share, on revenue of $9.19 billion for the three months ended Sept.
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Microsoft Friday unveiled a bid of 44.6 billion dollars for Yahoo in an effort to merge the world's biggest software company with a major Internet player to take on the Google juggernaut.
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Microsoft made an unsolicited $44.6 billion cash and stock bid for Internet portal Yahoo Friday.
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Yahoo&#39;s board of directors plans to reject&#160;Microsoft&#39;s unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid,&#160;The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing as its source &quot;a person familiar with the situation.&quot;According to the report, the source said the Yahoo board has determined that the $31-per-share offer &quot;massively&#160;undervalues&quot; the online services company. In addition, Microsoft&#39;s buyout bid doesn&#39;t take into consideration the business risks that Yahoo would be taking if it entered into an agreement that in the end might not be approved by government regulators, the source told the Journal.According to the Journal, Yahoo&#39;s board intends to send Microsoft a letter on Monday, detailing its position.A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on the report today. &quot;We are not providing details on the board&#39;s review process,&quot; she wrote. &quot;Yahoo&#39;s board is carefully and thoroughly evaluating the Microsoft proposal in the context of all of the company&#39;s strategic alternatives, and will pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.&quot;Microsoft, which announced its offer for Yahoo on Feb. 1, couldn&#39;t be reached for comment today. The offer is a combined cash-and-stock deal; in announcing the bid, Microsoft said Yahoo shareholders could choose to receive either cash or Microsoft stock, although it added that the total consideration would be equally split between the two forms of payment.Yesterday, published reports said that Yahoo&#39;s board was meeting to discuss the offer.Yahoo is still evaluating other options,&#160;including a search advertising partnership with Google, according to today&#39;s report by the Journal. It also may still be open to a longer negotiation with Microsoft: The Journal said it was told by the source that Yahoo would be unlikely to consider any offers below $40 per share.If so, that would require Microsoft to raise its original offer by at least 29 percent, or about $13 billion. In other words, the cost for Microsoft to become a more credible rival to Google in the search and online advertising markets could start at about $57.6 billion.Google has been doing what it can to scuttle the Microsoft takeover bid, including playing the antitrust card by asking, in a blog post by one of its executives last Monday, whether Microsoft might &quot;attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?&quot;Microsoft quickly shot back, issuing a statement saying that a combination of it and Yahoo merger would &quot;create a more competitive marketplace.&quot;(Eric Lai contributed to this story.)Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Microsoft Corp  has offered to buy Norwegian Internet-search software firm Fast Search & Transfer  for 19 crowns per share, valuing it at about $1.2 billion, the companies said on Tuesday.
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"Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly"  Microsoft Corp. bid $1.2 billion for the Norwegian search engine company Fast Search &amp; Transfer ASA on Tuesday as it seeks to help companies trawl for information on the Internet.The offer of $2.97 per share, or 19 kroner, was 42 percent premium to the Norwegian company's recent average share price, and caused the stock to soar by nearly the same amount in early trading on the Oslo stock exchange. Fast's board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer, a news release said. Read more
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InfoWorld - Microsoft has offered to buy Yahoo for around $44.6 billion in cash and shares, to better compete with Google in the market for online services.
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Microsoft Corp  has made an  unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo Inc  for $44.6 billion  in cash and stock, seeking to join forces against Google Inc   in what would be the biggest Internet deal since the  Time Warner-AOL merger.
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Microsoft Corp offered  to buy Yahoo Inc for $44.6 billion, in a bold bid to transform  two ailing Internet businesses into a worthy competitor for  market leader Google Inc.
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Business & money: Microsoft chairman denies the software giant is renegotiating its 'full and very fair' takeover offer
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Microsoft bid $1.2 billion for Fast Search and Transfer, based in Oslo, in an effort to add more tools to its lucrative Office products.
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Microsoft Corp.&#39;s MSN division has extended its sponsored-links contract with Overture Services Inc. for another year. ADVERTISEMENT.
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BOSTON/SEATTLE  - Yahoo Inc's   second-biggest shareholder urged Microsoft Corp  to  raise its $42 billion bid for the Web pioneer and warned Yahoo  it has few options other than to accept, raising pressure for  them to seal a deal.
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In November, Microsoft representatives began to comment that the enterprise search market had reached &quot;a tipping point&quot;; on Tuesday, the company backed up that claim with a bundle of cash,&#160;offering to buy enterprise search software company Fast Search And Transfer (FAST)&#160;for 6.6 billion Norwegian kroner ($1.2 billion).