查看完整版本: [ABC News] Microsoft makes $49b Yahoo bid

[ABC News] Microsoft makes $49b Yahoo bid

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[img]http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200801/r215022_833979.jpg[/img]

[b]Microsoft Corp offered to buy Yahoo Inc for $US44.6 billion ($49.4 billion), in a bold bid to transform two ailing internet businesses into a worthy competitor for market leader Google Inc.[/b]

In what would be the biggest internet deal since the ill-fated Time Warner-AOL merger, Microsoft sent a letter to Yahoo's board on Thursday night to offer $US31 per share in cash and stock.

The price is a 62 per cent premium over Yahoo's Thursday close, but only about a quarter of what the internet company was worth at the height of the dotcom bubble in 2000.

Yahoo would give Microsoft dominance in web banner ads used by corporate brand advertisers. It also attracts more than 500 million people monthly to sites devoted to news, finance and sports, and Yahoo Mail is the number one consumer e-mail service.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has indicated that he will not take no for an answer.

This is a decision we've thought, and I've personally thought, long and hard about, and we're very, very confident it's a right path for Microsoft and for Yahoo," he said.

But critics say the two companies have too many overlapping businesses - from instant messaging to email and advertising, as well as news, travel and finance sites - and both are weak in the Web search market, where Google dominates.

"They have to do it because they've tried everything they can do to fix MSN. Yahoo is the most visited site in the world, so it goes without saying that, given the current valuation, this is the perfect time for them to buy it," said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

But he added: "Google is running away with the search market and that's obviously the best part of the market. The likelihood that Google gets caught is slim to none."

Yahoo said on Friday its board will evaluate the unsolicited offer. Its shares shot up about 48 per cent to $US28.33.

Microsoft shares, which have a market capitalisation of about $US300 billion, fell 6.6 per cent to close at $US30.45. The shares of Google, which has a market value of about $US160 billion, fell 8.58 per cent to close at $US515.90.

Speculation about a Microsoft-Yahoo deal has swirled through the markets for more than a year, as investors looked for a joint stand against powerful Google, which has a 77 per cent share of the global web search market.

Yahoo is second with 16 per cent and Microsoft is third with 3.7 per cent, according to comScore data.



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