Microsoft Make Cash Offer for Yahoo

The battle for pay per click supremacy hotted up on 31/1/2008 with news that Microsoft have launched a £22.4 bn bid for search rival Yahoo!

Both Yahoo! and Microsoft have battled to cut Google’s search dominance in recent months but MSN’s cash and stocks offer is by far the more serious of assaults on the California headquartered AdWords advantage.

The software giant said it had offered to buy Yahoo for £15.50 per share, more than 50% more than its closing value on the US stock market yesterday. Microsoft are believed to have put together a plan of action focused on four areas of potential growth, uniting the expertise of the long-established search engine and the world’s original IT wonderkid.

The EU has already given its approval to the deal, following an announcement by Yahoo! that it planned to cut 1000 jobs by the end of February.