Microsoft in talks to buy Tellme Networks-sources
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NEW YORK/SEATTLE  - Microsoft Corp.  is in  talks to buy Tellme Networks Inc., the privately owned voice  recognition technology company, two sources familiar with the  situation said on Tuesday.
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Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it will acquire a Chicago-based provider of enterprise group chat software to bo...
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Microsoft Corp. announced plans Tuesday to acquire a company whose software aims to protect corporate networks from e-mail borne threats and said it would sell a product based on the technology.
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(InfoWorld) - Rumors that Microsoft may purchase BlackBerry maker Research in Motion are likely just that because of RIM's high price tag, though there would be benefits for both parties if a deal were struck, analysts said Friday. Michelle Warren, a senior analyst for Info-Tech Research Group in Toronto, sent out a note Thursday on industry speculation that Microsoft is in discussions with RIM, observing that the deal would give Microsoft ammunition to compete in the consumer device market against Apple. It also would position them well to fight any wireless strategy from Google, which has been buying up dark cable networks and is expected to make a big move in wireless communications in the next year or two, she said. "I think this makes sense basically because Microsoft has to do something different to order increase market share in the overall IT market," Warren said in an interview Friday. "It has to do something disruptive and eye-catching, and this speaks to its marketing positioning and future expansion plans." Microsoft has achieved a fair amount of success with its latest mobile OS, Windows Mobile 6, and has identified the mobile device space as an important one for the company's growth and revenue diversification going forward. Buying RIM would counter its current weakness in developing hardware for its mobile OS, Warren said. RIM would gain Microsoft's brand power and also engineering expertise for one of BlackBerry's competitive differentiators. Business users find a BlackBerry's ability to communicate with Microsoft Exchange Server for mobile e-mail an attractive feature. Microsoft also makes this option available in Windows Mobile. Synching up with Microsoft would allow the company to enhance this capability faster and more efficiently, Warren said. Neither Microsoft nor RIM would comment Friday on the possibility of a deal. Despite the advantages of a Microsoft-RIM merger, the deal just doesn't make economic sense, other analysts said Friday. To them, it's not even a remote possibility Microsoft would pony up more than the $47 billion in market cap RIM currently has to buy the vendor. "I just don't see it," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. He acknowledged he was surprised byÂ Microsoft's purchase of digital advertising services firm aQuantiveÂ for $6 billion and so also could be mistaken in the case of RIM. However, it isn't likely that Microsoft, for which the aQuantive deal was its largest to date, would shell out much more than a few billion to purchase a company. "A RIM deal would be larger by an order of magnitude," Rosoff said. "I just don't see Microsoft making that size of acquisition." He added that some kind of strategic alliance between the two, which currently compete head to head in the mobile OS space, would be more likely. "A multiyear partnership agreement, where some money might change hands but we'd never know how much," would make more sense, Rosoff said. Roger Kay, president of market intelligence firm Endpoint Technologies Associates, agreed that Microsoft likely won't make a purchase that large. He also noted that although Microsoft has become increasingly "more comfortable" with developing consumer hardware -- with products like the Xbox 360 gaming console and Zune digital media player on the market -- there could be thorny competitive issues with mobile device makers that license Windows Mobile if Microsoft begin making hardware for this market.
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MSN, Microsoft Corp.'s Web portal,   said on Tuesday it will make a big push to stream live concerts   to its users after signing an exclusive global partnership with   Control Room, the company behind the web broadcast of last   year's Live 8 event.
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Microsoft Corp.  said on  Wednesday it will buy privately held Tellme Networks, a  voice-recognition technology company, as it promotes the  service for computer users and call centers.
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Verizon Communications Inc. plans to use Microsoft Corp. technology for its rollout of television service over a new fiber-optic network, becoming the third major telephone company to help fulfill Microsoft's long-stymied bid to barge into the TV business.
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InfoWorld - Maven Networks, which provides hosting services for Internet TV, will announce Wednesday plans to add Microsoft&#39;s new Silverlight technology as a video delivery vehicle.
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MSN, Microsoft Corp.'s Web portal, said  it will make a big push to stream live concerts to its
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Microsoft Corp is talking to Facebook about an investment in the company that could value the fast-growing social network at $10 billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Monday.
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U.S. software giant Microsoft   said on Tuesday it would bid 19 crowns per share for Norwegian  Internet search software firm Fast Search & Transfer ,  valuing the company at about $1.2 billion.
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OSLO/NEW YORK  - Microsoft Corp made a $1.2 billion offer to buy Norwegian Web search software company Fast Search & Transfer in a deal that would help the world's largest software maker expand into the market for business-oriented search.
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Microsoft Corp.  said on Monday  it will buy Medstory Inc., a California-based start-up company  that develops Web search technology for medical information.
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Microsoft is in talks to buy a stake in the social networking site Facebook, the Wall Street Journal says.
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Redmond is close to acquisition deal for maker of products bridging speech recognition and the Internet, CNET News.com has learned.
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Comcast Corp. on Monday said it is in talks with Time Warner Inc. to explore a possible deal to acquire bankrupt cable company Adelphia Communications Corp.. &quot;Comcast is in discussions
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Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity   was looking at a possible bid for CanWest Global  Communications Corp.'s  stake in Australian broadcaster  Ten Network Holdings Ltd. , a source familiar with the  situation said.