Microsoft Bids for Yahoo

Feb. 1, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO-According to reports by the AssociatedPress and other newswires, Microsoft Corp. has re-activated its attempts to buyslumping Internet icon

SAN FRANCISCO-According to reports by the AssociatedPress and other newswires, Microsoft Corp. has re-activated its attempts to buyslumping Internet icon Yahoo Inc. It has made an unsolicited takeover offer of$44.6 billion in hopes challenging Google Inc.'s dominance of the lucrativeonline search and advertising markets.

The offer of $31 per share, mad late Thursday andannounced Friday, was a bit of a surprise to analysts, who admit theSunnyvale-based Yahoo is in a vulnerable position.

Yahoo, in a statement Friday, said it will"carefully and promptly" study Microsoft's bid. Yahoo's stock slippedto a four-year low earlier this week, profits continue to slide and a newmanagement team has been trying to steer a turnaround.

Yahoo's share price jumped 60% in pre-market trading withthe possible Microsoft buyout.