Google: Microsoft Deal Bad for Internet
Sunday February 3, 9:24 pm ET
By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer 
Google Rips Microsoft’s Proposed Takeover of Yahoo, Saying It Would Stifle Internet Innovation

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc. raised the specter of Microsoft Corp. using its proposed $42 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc. to gain illegal control over the Internet, underscoring the online search leader’s queasiness about its two biggest rivals teaming up.
 
The critical remarks, posted online Sunday by Google’s top lawyer, represented the Mountain View-based company’s first public reaction to Microsoft’s unsolicited bid for Yahoo since the offer was announced Friday.“Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions,” David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, wrote. “This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It’s about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.”

Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click for Complete Story

Friday February 1, 8:39 am ET
By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer 
Microsoft Makes Unexpected $44.6B Offer for Internet Icon Yahoo

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft Corp. 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.

The surprise offer of $31 per share, made late Thursday and announced Friday, comes with Sunnyvale-based Yahoo in a vulnerable position.

In a statement Friday, Yahoo said it will “carefully and promptly” study Microsoft’s bid. With its profits steadily sliding, Yahoo’s stock slipped to a four-year low earlier this week and a new management team has been trying to steer a turnaround but sees more turbulence through 2008.

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Time Inc. to Close Business 2.0 
 
By BRAD STONE
Published: September 5, 2007
The latest dot-com casualty comes from the newsstand, not the Internet. Ten editorial staff members from Business 2.0 will join Time Inc.’s Fortune magazine. Business 2.0, a monthly magazine about the new economy, will be shut down rather than sold, its owners at Time Inc. have decided. The publication, which has been suffering from a decline in advertising revenue, will cease publication after its October issue, which will have a cover article on where to invest in a real estate downturn.

According to people familiar with Time Inc.’s handling of the matter, Time turned down offers from Mansueto Ventures, owners of the rival magazine Fast Company, and other prospective buyers to acquire the Business 2.0 brand and its circulation list of 600,000 subscribers.

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