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Digital
Microsoft may bid for Yahoo! again
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 20 October 2011
Microsoft is reportedly thinking of having another go at acquiring Yahoo!, having originally tried, unsuccessfully, to buy the company in 2008.
Bidders have been gathering for the flagging web company ever since it fired its CEO Carol Bartz back in September, a move that was seen by many as basically putting the firm up for sale. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is considering forming an alliance with investment firms Silver Lake Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment to make a $20 billion bid for the company. Among other things, owning Yahoo! would aid Microsoft’s web search business Bing, which currently powers the Yahoo! search engine but, insiders say, at a loss because of the way the two companies’ partnership is structured. If in common ownership the nature of that partnership would change.
There are, however, other potential bidders for the Yahoo! company, including AOL, Chinese internet group Alibaba and a possible private equity consortium led by Yahoo! co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang. It’s thought Yahoo! will provide information about the company’s finances to serious bidders in the next few days.