Microsoft Googles Yahoo!

摘要

Google was the subject of a very recent Rearview (Curwen, 2008) and it is therefore something of a surprise that it should be featuring again so soon, even if this time it is playing a secondary role. The primary players this time are Microsoft and Yahoo! On 1 February 2008, Microsoft launched an unsolicited takeover bid for Yahoo! worth $44.6 billion, offering to pay either entirely in cash or via a combination of cash and Microsoft shares. The bid priced each Yahoo! share at $31, a 62 percent premium to the price ruling the previous day. Microsoft justified the bid in terms of the need to take on a resurgent Google in the internet search market and claimed that it would lead to synergies worth $1 billion. According to Steve Balmer, the Microsoft CEO, the merged company would "deliver superior value to our respective shareholders and better choice and innovation to our customers and industry partners".