Talks of Microsoft’s Purchase of Yahoo Surface Again…
Yahoo’s shares SURGE as talks again resurface about Microsoft’s interest in buying the search engine operator. Microsoft is feeling more and more pressure to compete with search engine giant Google, especially after Google’s recent plans to beef up its search reach with the $3.1 billion buyout of DoubleClick.
Microsoft is said to be pursuing Yahoo again
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Microsoft (MSFT) is resuming its pursuit of search engine operator Yahoo (YHOO), to help it better compete with Web search leader Google (GOOG), published reports said Friday.
Yahoo shares surged more than 17% in premarket trading.
The New York Post reported Friday that Microsoft has asked Yahoo to enter formal negotiations for an acquisition that could be worth $50 billion. Yahoo’s market capitalization was about $38 billion on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal said executives of the two companies are looking at a merger or some other kind of matchup and said talks appear to be early-stage discussions. It said the companies explored the idea of combining last year but the talks led nowhere.
The newspaper reports each cited unidentified people familiar with the situation.
