In an effort to compete with the Goliath that is Google,
Microsoft is making an offer that would pay all Yahoo! shareholders 62% more than the stock is currently worth in hopes of acquiring the search giant...that would cost MS approximately $44.6 billion sheckles.
Quote:
Microsoft Corp. made an unsolicited $44.6 billion cash and stock bid for Yahoo on Friday, a deal that could shake up the competitive and lucrative market for Internet search.
The deal would pay Yahoo shareholders $31 a share, which represents a 62% premium from where Yahoo stock closed on Thursday.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, called the move the "next major milestone" for the software giant.
"We are very, very confident this is the right path for Microsoft and for Yahoo," he said.
Microsoft hopes to close the deal by the end of the year. Ballmer said that Microsoft has been in "off and on" talks with Yahoo for 18 months and said he called Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang Thursday night to tell him the bid was coming.
Microsoft made the bid early Friday. In a statement, the company said the offer allows Yahoo shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the software giant's offer consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock.
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That's a lot of money to spend just to compete with Google...but at this point, what else can either Microsoft or Yahoo! really do?
and this is also bad news for Google too i believe 
