Microsoft Attempts Takeover of Yahoo!

Yahoo! is once again rejecting a Microsoft takeover that could mean the end of the 14 year old search engine provider.

Microsoft (MSFT) made a public bid of $31 per share on February 1st, making the total bid to be up around $44.6 billion. Yahoo! has long since been a company Microsoft wanted to take over. It's just one less competitor they have to deal with, and one less search provider taking business away from Microsoft's Live Search (formally MSN Search).

Yahoo! Inc's stock, which currently is valued at around $29 a share, rose after the public bid was made by Microsoft.

Yahoo! Inc has been very reluctant of Microsoft's offer so far. Yahoo's board met late last night to discuss whether this buyout would even be a good option, and this afternoon, they've said that they are rejecting the offer.

According to a person knowledgeable about the discussions between the Yahoo board members, they won't even consider an offer below $40 a share. If Microsoft were to match that, it would raise their overall bid by about $12 billion.

What does this mean to you? Most likely, you won't be affected by any of this. Let's say Yahoo! accepts the buyout, and Microsoft takes over Yahoo! Inc. If you have a Yahoo! ID, your e-mail and all of the other uses you have for Yahoo! won't be affected.

Your e-mail will still be going to your Yahoo! e-mail account.

The most notable change that would occur is the change from Yahoo!'s Search Engine to the Windows Live Search, obviously to promote Microsoft's own technology. Similarly, when Google bought YouTube in 2006, the default search engine for YouTube was switched to that of Google's.

Even if Microsoft did indeed succeed in buying out Yahoo!, they would have to fight the Justice Department again on anti-trust issues. This buyout would be a large cut in the amount of competition going on in the search engine provider sector, which concerns the Justice Department.