Microsoft Offers $44.6B for Yahoo
Microsoft Makes Unexpected $44.6B Offer for Internet Icon Yahoo
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft Corp. has pounced on slumping Internet icon Yahoo Inc. with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion in its boldest bid yet to challenge Google Inc.’s dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising markets.
The surprise offer of $31 per share, made late Thursday and announced Friday, comes with Sunnyvale-based Yahoo in a vulnerable position.
With its profits steadily sliding, Yahoo’s stock slipped to a four-year low earlier this week and a new management team has been trying to steer a turnaround sees more turbulence through 2008.
The announcement sent Yahoo’s share price up 60 percent in premarket trading, while Google fell 8 percent.
