Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion
565982
Microsoft Corp  said on Friday  it has offered to buy Yahoo Inc , the popular Web  portal, 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.
176538
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK  - Microsoft Corp   made a bid 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.
243503
The key to Microsoft's proposed $44.6 billion acquisition of Yahoo is both companies' desire to build an advertising platform that can compete with Google's AdWords.
549794
Microsoft said&#160;its $44.6 billion offer to purchase Yahoo&#160;is &quot;fair&quot; and hinted that it may pursue a hostile takeover of the Internet company, according to a statement Microsoft made Monday in response to&#160;Yahoo&#39;s formal rejection of its buyout offer.
298896
Yahoo Inc's board met by telephone on  Friday and discussed strategy for getting Microsoft Corp to  raise its $42 billion offer for the company and the possibility  of hiring Google Inc to run Yahoo's search, the Wall Street  Journal said.
190645
Yahoo Inc  would consider  a business alliance with Google Inc  as one way to  rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source  familiar with Yahoo's strategy said on Sunday.
733475
InfoWorld - Microsoft has offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion -- but how did a company that started so small come to be worth so much? That's a story that began in the early days of the World Wide Web, when people were struggling to keep track of the new world of multimedia it offered them.
293713
Microsoft Corp  said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo Inc .
104557
Microsoft&#39;s $44.6 billion offer to purchase Yahoo&#160;is a dramatic statement from a company that delayed acknowledging the importance of emerging Web business models for so long, it faced becoming an also-ran in the Web 2.0 economy.
193295
Microsoft Corp. offered to buy search engine operator Yahoo Inc. for $44.6 billion in cash and stock in a move to boost its competitive edge in the online services market.
325281
Microsoft&#39;s offer Friday to buy Yahoo&#160;for $44.6 billion in cash and shares put a turbulent end to a heavy earnings week in which forecasts from Internet leaders worried IT investors.Internet leaders Google, Yahoo, and Amazon and a host of high-profile technology vendors this week reported fourth-quarter sales and generally muted forecasts for the next few quarters.Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer&#39;s offer letter to Yahoo&#39;s board of directors&#160;on Thursday went public Friday morning, having an immediate effect on company share prices. The offer represents a 62 percent premium over Yahoo&#39;s closing price on Thursday. In premarket trading, Yahoo shares skyrocketed. Shares closed at $28.38, up by $9.20, or 47.97 percent.Though most analysts said the deal would not likely hurt Google in the short term, Google shares closed down by $48.40, at $515.90. Shares of Microsoft, which has never done a deal this size, were down by $2.15, closing at $30.45.Considering Yahoo&#39;s likely earnings and share price increases without an acquisition, for the price Microsoft is willing to pay, the offer &quot;seems like a great deal,&quot; said Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney in a research note.The proposal capped off a heavy earnings-report week. Though sales for the fourth quarter generally were strong, key companies, including Google and high-flying virtualization technology vendor VMware, fell short of analyst expectations.In the current economic climate in the United States, where many analysts are predicting a recession, market watchers pounce on bad news.Yahoo&#39;s fourth-quarter revenue increased, but profit fell to $206 million&#160;from $269 million one year earlier. During its financial conference call Wednesday, CEO Jerry Yang announced that the company would be laying off about 1,000 workers and talked about the U.S. economy hitting the company with &quot;headwinds.&quot;Analysts worry that the company&#39;s Panama search engine ad system, rolled out last year, has not had the positive effect that was expected. They also note that the company is vague about expected investments and that it is appearing to lose further ground to Google in the search market.In a research note, Citigroup Global Markets Equity Research downgraded its opinion on Yahoo from &quot;buy&quot; to &quot;hold.&quot; But after the Microsoft offer went public, Citigroup called the move &quot;a good fit to fix an ongoing issue.&quot;Though&#160;Google on Thursday reported a 51 percent year-on-year revenue increase&#160;to $4.83 billion for the quarter, earnings per share excluding certain items were $4.43, just below the $4.44 consensus analyst forecast. While most companies would be ecstatic to report such strong growth, the market had gotten used to Google continuing to blow past all expectations.Many market watchers take Google&#39;s miss as a sign that the faltering economy is braking the search giant. If consumers cut back spending, Google may experience a slackening in consumers&#39; desire to click on advertising. The company&#39;s continuing reliance on search revenue is bothering investors. That issue may be worrying investors more than potential competition with a merged Microsoft-Yahoo.One bright note for the week in the Internet sector was Amazon&#39;s earnings announcement on Wednesday. Amazon revenue grew 42 percent, to $5.67 billion, as income more than doubled, to $207 million. While the company&#39;s forecast for operating margins was lower than expected, its revenue forecast was higher than expected -- welcome news in a climate of worry.Then on Thursday,&#160;Amazon announced it would buy Audible.com , which sparked interest as the acquisition may help its battle against Apple in the market for spoken-word books, magazines, and radio programs. Amazon shares jumped by $3.49 to close at $77.70 Thursday, though they then drifted back down Friday.Outside the Internet arena, companies in a variety of sectors, including Lenovo, SAP, Verizon, and TSMC, reported strong fourth-quarter sales (though in SAP&#39;s case, profit was brought down by its acquisition of Business Objects). However, as usual in these times of economic uncertainty, it was&#160;VMware&#39;s disappointing quarter and weak forecast &#160;that captured the most attention.The company share price lost 34 percent of its value after VMware said Monday that revenue was $412.5 million, compared to analyst expectations of $417.4 million. Even though profit doubled, it was the revenue miss that had everyone nervous as hopes for the company were high after its red-hot IPO in December.&quot;The company&#39;s 2008 outlook suggests that low hanging fruit may have been picked and new customer signings could be slowing down,&quot; according to a UBS research note. This comment is probably right on the money. Most big-company CIOs consider server virtualization an obvious tactical move and have already implemented the technology.By market close Friday, excitement over the Microsoft offer for Yahoo may have helped push the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index into positive territory. It closed at 2413.36, up by 23.50. As economic uncertainty rules, however, IT investors are bracing for a bumpy ride over the next few quarters.
742058
Yahoo and Microsoft would still be the underdog in the increasingly important business of Web search if Microsoft's unsolicited $44.6 billion bid to buy Yahoo is approved by regulators and Yahoo shareholders.
547422
Software giant goes public with $44.6 billion bid for the Net pioneer. Will Yahoo succumb to the advances or rebuff Microsoft as it has before?
569907
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.
621317
Microsoft made an unsolicited $44.6 billion cash and stock bid for Internet portal Yahoo Friday.
737470
Yahoo Inc is in talks on  a possible deal with News Corp, but analysts said an  alternative was unlikely to emerge to rival Microsoft Corp's  bid for Yahoo, now valued at $42.1 billion.
161292
Microsoft's $44 billion bid for Yahoo translates into nearly $1,200 for each unique monthly visitor to Yahoo's web sites. You want more metrics? We got 'em. Get your red-hot data here!