It is the most talked about merger and acquisition of the century. I haven’t witnessed as much buzz since the Merger of Compaq and HP back in 2002.
This morning, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo!, the one time darling of the internet and competitor to both Microsoft and Google, for the princely sum of $44.6 billion, which is slightly more than what Microsoft gets as income in one year.
Still, it will be uber interesting to see what Google and how Wall Street will react in the medium to long term.
So here are a few headlines…
Breaking news : Microsoft Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo! for $31 per Share
The letter that Microsoft sent to Yahoo!’s Board of Directors
Microsoft Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo! for $31 per Share — Transaction valued at approximately $44.6 billion in cash and stock; provides 62 percent premium to current trading price for Yahoo! shareholders; combined entity to create a more competitive company, providing superior value to shareholders …
Discussion: The Technology Chronicles, Techlog, Silicon Alley Insider, Groundswell, ReadWriteWeb, IP Democracy, Tech Confidential, HipMojo.com, ClickZ, mathewingram.com/work, Deal Journal, Search Engine Journal, Scobleizer, CNET News.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Hardware 2.0, WebProNews, NewTeeVee, GigaOM, Epicenter, Insider Chatter, InsideMicrosoft, SEO and Tech Daily, Searchviews, franticindustries, DealBook, Yahoo!, Forrester’s Marketing Blog, O’Reilly Radar, Paul Kedrosky’s …, Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog, Collaborative Thinking, InsideGoogle, Seeking Alpha, Rev2.org, CenterNetworks, Mashable!, SearchRank Blog, TechBizMedia, Clickety Clack, Laughing Squid, Incremental Blogger, Joe Duck and Yahoo! Finance
Discussion:
Alan Saracevic / The Technology Chronicles: Microsoft-Yahoo: The word from Seattle
Harry McCracken / Techlog: Microsoft-Yahoo: My Opinion and Yours
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider: YHOO/MSFT Bidding War? MSFT to Raise Offer? Doubtful
Charlene Li / Groundswell: Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo!: What it means
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb: Microhoo! What Does it Mean for Users?
Cynthia Brumfield / IP Democracy: Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Bid for Yahoo! Yawn.
Alain Sherter / Tech Confidential: Microsoft bids $44.6B for Yahoo!
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Microsoft Offers $44.6B ($31/share) to Acquire Yahoo!
ClickZ: Microsoft Stuns Industry with $44.6 Billion Bid for Yahoo
Mathew / mathewingram.com/work: MSFT and YHOO: Then there were two — The bottom line …
Dennis K. Berman / Deal Journal: Microsoft/Yahoo: Time-Warner/AOL 2.0?
Loren Baker / Search Engine Journal: What Will Microsoft Yahoo Merger Mean for SEO?
Robert Scoble / Scobleizer: Microsoft to buy Yahoo: Ray Ozzie roars
Gordon Haff / CNET News.com: Microsoft: Threat or savior for Flickr?
Verne Kopytoff / San Francisco Chronicle: Justice Department likely to review a Microsoft-Yahoo merger
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0: Would a Microsoft/Yahoo! deal mean more junk and OS bloat? Probably
David A. Utter / WebProNews: Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Haters Emerge
Chris Albrecht / NewTeeVee: What Would Micro-Hoo Mean for Video?
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM: Google Drives Microsoft’s Hostile Bid for Yahoo
Betsy Schiffman / Epicenter: Shock and Awe: Microsoft Bids $44.6B for Yahoo
Donna Bogatin / Insider Chatter: Yahoo Shareholder on Microsoft Bid: AOL, Time Warner All Over Again?
Nathan Weinberg / InsideMicrosoft: Microsoft Offers To Buy Yahoo
Charlie Anzman / SEO and Tech Daily: Breaking : Microsoft makes bid for Yahoo
Kate Zimmermann / Searchviews: Microsoft Bids $44.6B for Yahoo
Stan Schroeder / franticindustries: Microsoft Really, Really Wants to Buy Yahoo
DealBook: Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Bid for Yahoo
Yahoo!: Terry Semel to Step Down from Yahoo! Board of Directors
Shar Van Boskirk / Forrester’s Marketing Blog: Microsoft to Buy Yahoo!…Take Two
Tim O’Reilly / O’Reilly Radar: Microsoft’s Bid for Yahoo!: The Long View
Paul Kedrosky’s Infectious Greed: Yahoo/Microsoft: Synergies, Google, Goldman’s Timing, etc.
Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog: Microsoft’s big Yahoo bid: Behind-the-scenes details
Mike Gotta / Collaborative Thinking: What A Yahoo! Acquisition Might Mean To Microsoft
Nathan Weinberg / InsideGoogle: A Detailed Look At Microsoft’s Offer To Buy Yahoo
Larry Dignan / Seeking Alpha: Microsoft Offers To Buy Yahoo
Sid Yadav / Rev2.org: Breaking: Microsoft Makes $45 Billion Bid to Buy Yahoo!
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks: Microsoft Wants To Acquire Yahoo; More Yahoos To Lose Jobs
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!: The Daily Poll: Should Yahoo Accept Microsoft’s Offer?
David Wallace / SearchRank Blog: Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News - 1/28 - 2/1
Deepak / TechBizMedia: Microsoft, Yahoo and the Cloud
Junior Hines / Clickety Clack: Can This MSFT/YHOO Deal Go Through?
Scott Beale / Laughing Squid: Microsoft Makes Unsolicited Offer to Buy Yahoo! for 44.6 Billion
LCH / Incremental Blogger: Microsoft offers $44.6 billion for Yahoo
Joe Duck: Why Microsoft+Yahoo>Google — The Yahoo Microsoft Merger is a very good idea.
Yahoo! Finance: Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion
RELATED:
Michael Liedtke / Associated Press:
Microsoft offers $44.6B for Yahoo — SAN FRANCISCO - 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.
Discussion: Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard, Tech Beat, Traffick, BeyondVC and The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
Discussion:
Scott Rosenberg / Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard: Microsoft plus Yahoo? The sum is less than the parts
Rob Hof / Tech Beat: Microsoft Finally Makes Its Move on Yahoo
Andrew Goodman / Traffick: Microsoft + Yahoo: The Deal Everybody Says They Saw Coming
Ed Sim / BeyondVC: What a Microsoft Yahoo deal would mean for startups (continued)
Steve / The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Bam! Borg makes Yahoo its bitch.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
What Would a Combined Microsoft-Yahoo Look Like? — Microsoft’s $31 a share offer for Yahoo is made possible by Yahoo’s slumping shares (Yahoo’s stock was trading at about $31 a year ago). While Yahoo has rejected Microsoft’s entreaties in the past, with Terry Semel stepping down as chairman …
Discussion: Big Tech, Compiler, WebProNews, Associated Press, eWeek, AppScout, PC World, Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab, WebbyOnline, Dana Gardner’s BriefingsDirect and LucaFiligheddu.com
Discussion:
Jon Fortt / Big Tech: Putting Microsoft and Yahoo togther: Some pieces won’t fit
Scott Gilbertson / Compiler: What Would Microsoft Mean for Flickr?
Doug Caverly / WebProNews: World Reacts To Microsoft-Yahoo Surprise
Michael Liedtke / Associated Press: Yahoo’s Semel Steps Down As Chairman
Darryl K. Taft / eWeek: Microsoft-Yahoo Is a Developer, Services Boost
Mark Hachman / AppScout: Ballmer’s Pitch to Yahoo
PC World: Microsoft’s Yahoo Offer: Details of the Deal
Umair / Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab: Victim of the Crime — You know, it’s not often that we get to witness fatal errors.
David Risley / WebbyOnline: Microsoft-Yahoo Story DOMINATES Techmeme
Dana Gardner / Dana Gardner’s BriefingsDirect: Microsoft’s Yahoo bids speaks as much of failure as opportunity
Luca Filigheddu: Microsoft to buy Yahoo!
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch:
WOW. Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion To Acquire Yahoo — Update: More on the deal here and here (email from Ballmer to all MS employees) — It’s been rumored for a long time, but now it’s reality. — Microsoft has made an unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo.
Discussion: CNET News.com, paidContent.org, Microsoft Watch, Ed Burnette’s Dev Connection, WebProNews, eWeek, Virtual Economics, Tech Check with Jim Goldman, Forbes, IDG News Service, Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim, The Next Web, ContextWeb Internet …, Ars Technica, Silicon Alley Insider, Valleywag and SmoothSpan Blog
Discussion:
Steve Tobak / CNET News.com: Yahoo and Yang are (were?) in big trouble
Joseph Weisenthal / paidContent.org: MSFT-YHOO: What It Means To Google
Joe Wilcox / Microsoft Watch: Why Did Microsoft Yell Yahoo, Today?
Ed Burnette / Ed Burnette’s Dev Connection: Microsoft preps for hostile takeover of Yahoo!
Mike Sachoff / WebProNews: Microsoft, Yahoo Bid: The Basics
eWeek: Did Microsoft Low-Ball Yahoo?
Seamusmccauley / Virtual Economics: Yahooglesoft — Microsoft to acquire Yahoo! for about $45bn.
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman: Microsoft CEO Ballmer: His Memo On Plans For Yahoo
Forbes: A Messy Marriage — The announcement of Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid …
James Niccolai / IDG News Service: Yahoo Board Chairman Quits
Andy Beal / Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim: Microsoft Pounces on Yahoo’s Weak Q4, Makes $44.6B Offer
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten / The Next Web: Microsoft offers $44.6 Billion for Yahoo & why Yahoo will accept
Jay Sears / ContextWeb Internet Advertising Blog: Advertiser Impact of Microsoft - Yahoo! Combination
Eric Bangeman / Ars Technica: Microsoft adds Yahoo! to shopping cart
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider: Microsoft Bids $31 for Yahoo (MSFT/YHOO)
Nicholas Carlson / Valleywag: Yahoo offer culminates a long flirtation
Smoothspan / SmoothSpan Blog: Microsoft Acquiring Yahoo: Is This A Good Thing?
Yahoo! Board of Directors to Evaluate Unsolicited Proposal From Microsoft — Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today said that it has received an unsolicited proposal from Microsoft to acquire the Company. The Company said that its Board of Directors will evaluate …
Discussion: Search Engine Land, Tech Trader Daily and John Cook’s Venture Blog
Discussion:
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land: Q&A With Microsoft On Proposed Yahoo Purchase: 2+2 = #1
Eric Savitz / Tech Trader Daily: Microsoft Offers To Buy Yahoo For $31 A Share; Deal Would Be Worth …
John Cook / John Cook’s Venture Blog: Microsoft offers $45 billion for Yahoo
Fred / A VC:
You Had To See This Coming - MSFT To Buy YHOO — I was going to buy Yahoo! the other day. Mark and I were emailing. I was asking how much Yahoo!’s core search business was worth if it was given over to Google. He though maybe as much as $9/share. I looked into the value of Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba.
Discussion: Business Technology, Feld Thoughts and Wall Street Journal
Discussion:
Pui-Wing Tam / Business Technology: A Narrowing Field of Tech Suppliers
Brad Feld / Feld Thoughts: Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft — Brilliant strategic move …
Wall Street Journal: Microsoft Unveils Offer for Web Rival
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Microsoft Makes $45 Billion Bid To Buy Yahoo — Microsoft is to bid $31 per share to Yahoo’s board of directors to purchase the company, a deal potentially worth $45 billion. Below, more details, some history and analysis. We’ll also keep updating this story, and we’ll have a separate post linked …
Discussion: WebProNews, Silicon Alley Insider, Techland, E-Commerce Times, MarketWatch, Tech Check with Jim Goldman, Microsoft, The Register, Search Engine Journal, ParisLemon, Contentinople, Electronista, Web Worker Daily, Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi, Intuitive.com, paidContent.org, CenterNetworks, MSNBC, Engadget and VentureBeat
Discussion:
Jason Lee Miller / WebProNews: Yahoo - Semel = Microsoft Takeover?
Peter Kafka / Silicon Alley Insider: Steve Ballmer To Microsofties: “Full Steam Ahead!”
Josh Quittner / Techland: Microsoft’s AOL or Microhoo?
Michael Liedtke / E-Commerce Times: Semel Exits Yahoo as Microsoft Takeover Looms
John Letzing / MarketWatch: Terry Semel to leave Yahoo’s board of directors
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman: Microsoft Making Its Case For Yahoo
Chris Liddell / Microsoft: Media Alert: Press Conference Call to Discuss Microsoft Proposal …
John Oates / The Register: Ballmer! explains! hostile! Yahoo! bid!
Arnold Zafra / Search Engine Journal: Microsoft Proposes to Buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion, Should Google Be Afraid?
MG Siegler / ParisLemon: Microsoft to Yahoo: Join Us, Join Us or Die (and here’s $44.6 billion …
A. L. Friedman / Contentinople: Microhoo: A Boon for Music, Not Video
Electronista: MS/Yahoo deal: conference call, Yahoo responds
Web Worker Daily: WWD Debate: Microsoft Wants Yahoo, What do Web Workers Get?
Dean Takahashi / Tech Talk with Dean Takahashi: Yowza, Microsoft makes bid to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion
Dave Taylor / Intuitive.com: What Microsoft gets for its $44 billion purchase of Yahoo!
Joseph Weisenthal / paidContent.org: Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Cash And Stock Bid For Yahoo; 62 Percent Premium
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks: LIVE Blogging: Microsoft Yahoo Press Conference
MSNBC: Microsoft bids $44.6 billion for Yahoo
Thomas Ricker / Engadget: Microsoft offers $44.6 Billion for Yahoo
Chris Morrison / VentureBeat: Microsoft offers to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion, in bid …
Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion for Yahoo — SAN FRANCISCO — In a bold move to counter Google’s online pre-eminence, Microsoft said Friday that it had made an unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo for about $44.6 billion in a mix of cash and stock. — If consummated, the deal would redraw …
Discussion: Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog, TeleRead and TidBITS
Discussion:
Todd Bishop / Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog: Microsoft’s Yahoo bid: Ballmer’s e-mail to employees
David Rothman / TeleRead: Microsoft to buy Yahoo for $45B? The e-book angle
Adam C. Engst / TidBITS: Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion for Yahoo
Joseph Weisenthal / paidContent.org:
MSFT-YHOO: Analysts’ First Take: Agreement Likely; Major Premium For Yahoo’s Core Assets — Flash analyst commentary on the deal is starting to come in. Expect a lot more discussion today and in the days ahead. We’ll update as we get more: — Imran Khan, JP Morgan: Quick reactions …
Discussion: WebProNews, BuzzMachine, Valleywag and Recovering Journalist
Discussion:
David A. Utter / WebProNews: Microsoft, Show Me The Money
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine: Microsoft-Yahoo: The deal of the dinos
Nicholas Carlson / Valleywag: Wall Street suits give Microsoft-Yahoo warm tonguebath
Mark Potts / Recovering Journalist: Ever Stranger Bedfellows
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Microsoft makes bid for Yahoo; May change the search game; Bid could rise — Microsoft said Friday that it is making an unsolicited offer of $31 a share, or $44.6 billion, to buy Yahoo in a move that would give the software giant more market share and become a significant threat to Google.
Discussion: Digital Daily, Search Engine Land, GigaOM and Valleywag
Discussion:
John Paczkowski / Digital Daily: I’ve Got Four Words for You: I. Love. These. Companies. … YEAH!!!
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land: Live Blogging Microsoft’s Bid For Yahoo Call
Kevin Kelleher / GigaOM: Dear Yahoo, I Pwn You. XO Microsoft.
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: The decline and fall of Yahoo
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
MSFT + YHOO: What Would Microsoft Yahoo Look Like? — So the conference call has happened, and despite saying it has a plan to digest Yahoo, Microsoft didn’t share that with the world. Indeed, at one point it was said any plan depended on what Yahoo’s leadership would suggest. That means it’s time for What If.
Discussion: Yahoo! Finance and Screenwerk
Discussion:
Dan Caterinicchia / Yahoo! Finance: US, EU Unlikely to Stop Microsoft Deal
Greg Sterling / Screenwerk: Yahoo’s Brand, Traffic and Advertisers for MSFT
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:NEW!
Microsoft to Yahoo: Two Days to Respond Or Else! — Sources at Yahoo tell me that Microsoft made its most recent overtures right after Yahoo announced its earnings Tuesday and then told Yahoo execs they had two days to respond or Microsoft would go public with the offer.
Discussion: Tech Check with Jim Goldman, Silicon Alley Insider and paidContent.org
Discussion:
Jim Goldman / Tech Check with Jim Goldman: Microsoft Goes “Hostile” In Search For Yahoo
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider: Yahoo Refused Polite Offer on Tuesday—So Microsoft Went Hostile
Joseph Weisenthal / paidContent.org: MSFT-YHOO: Key Facts: Microsoft’s $44.6 Billion Bid For Yahoo