Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion to Buy Yahoo!

Microsoft has pounced on slumping Internet icon Yahoo Inc. with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion in its boldest bid yet to challenge Google Inc.’s dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising markets.

To underscore its resolve, Microsoft is offering a 62 percent premium to Yahoo’s closing stock price Thursday. If the deal is consummated, it would be by far the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history, eclipsing last year’s $6 billion purchase of online ad service aQuantive.

While the tech world waits to see whether Yahoo will accept Microsoft’s $44.6 billion takeover bid, Microsoft and Yahoo employees must be losing some sleep at the prospect of massive staff cuts sould the takeover become a reality.

There’s a lot of duplication between Yahoo and Microsoft’s internet arms and services will shut and/ or be downsized as content and services from each cross-pollinate across the merged entity.

Service	Yahoo	Microsoft
Portals	Yahoo.com	Msn.com
Account Management	Yahoo ID	Live ID
Personal Homepage	My Yahoo!	Live.com
Search	Yahoo Search	Live Search
Casual gaming	Yahoo Games	MSN Games
Mapping	Yahoo Maps	Live Maps
Instant Messenger	Yahoo Messenger	Live Messenger
Mail	Yahoo Mail	Live Hotmail
Blogging	360°	Live Spaces
Search Advertising	Yahoo Search Marketing	Microsoft adCenter
Mobile	Yahoo Mobile	Live Mobile
Social Events	Upcoming	Live Events
Music Service	Y! Music/MusicMatch	Zune Marketplace, MSN Music
Music Software	Music Jukebox	Windows Media Player

What do you think will happen in the event of a Microsoft-Yahoo combination?

Sources: Associated Press, IStartedSomething