Microsoft eyeing Yahoo

This piece of news is big news. It is being widely reported that Microsoft is eyeing a 50 billion dollar bid for Yahoo. This was first reported by the New York Post which reported that Microsoft is trying to get Yahoo to agree to this takeover. They have held talks in the past about such a deal, and senior executives of both companies might be negotiating a deal in secret right now. Read this story in Forbes.

Shares of online search site operator Yahoo Inc. spiked Friday, as reports that the company could be bought out by software giant Microsoft Corp. drove the stock up 16.5 percent.
The dramatic rise was preceded by a Friday report in the New York Post, which cited unnamed sources saying Microsoft is trying to get Yahoo to formally negotiate a takeover by the software company. The story cited sources as saying Yahoo could fetch about $50 billion.
In a note to investors, Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel wrote a partnership or merger between the companies makes strategic sense, since Microsoft is one of the few companies that could repair Yahoo's technology and product development issues.

This deal may make sense for Microsoft since it will give them a pretty good web property, and the overall strength to pose a much bigger challenge to Google. However, a deal of such magnitude is not easy to push through. The companies have conflicting styles. In addition, since both Microsoft and Yahoo are big players in the online search and other properties market, such a deal may have anti-trust implications.