Microsoft Offers To Buy Yahoo! For $44.6bn

Microsoft has launched a $44.6 billion takeover bid to buy Yahoo!, saying that it is confident of delivering up to $1 billion in cost savings under the terms of the proposed deal.

According to a report on TimesOnline, Goldman Sachs is advising Microsoft on the deal.

If it were to go through, the deal would be one of the largest takeovers in US corporate history and the largest in the technology sector.

Microsoft said that its offer valued Yahoo! at $31 per share and was a 62% premium to Yahoo!’s closing price on Wall Street last night.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive said: “We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market.”

Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft added: “Our lives, our businesses and even our society have been transformed by the Web, and Yahoo! has played a pioneering role by building compelling, high-scale services and infrastructure.”

Earlier this week, Yahoo! announced that its Q4 profits fell 23% to $206 million, down from $269 million a year earlier, and confirmed plans to make 1,000 job cuts, its first cuts in six years.

Meanwhile, yesterday former Yahoo! chief executive Terry Semel resigned from the company’s board.

Yahoo!: 020 7808 4200 www.yahoo.co.uk Microsoft: 0870 60 10 100 www.microsoft.com