The long anticipated combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! may at last be upon us. In its most aggressive move yet, Microsoft went public with their offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion in cash and stock, or $31 per share - a 62 percent premium to Yahoo's closing stock price Thursday.
The combination of the two companies will in theory create enough of a powerhouse to face Google in a marketplace now dominated by search and web applications.
The combined companies will be able to take advantage of economies of scale and eliminate redundant costs. Their combined reach would provide higher value to advertisers.
It's the way to go.
If this goes through it will be interesting to see how Microsoft and Yahoo cultures mesh...whatever is left of Yahoo's culture, that is, given the successive rounds of layoffs and management shifts. Will the resulting company be more media savvy or will Microsoft suck the life out of Yahoo?
