Google considers acquisition of Yahoo
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is looking at ways to acquire Yahoo. But there is a second interested party: Microsoft. The competition is not least about dominance in the search engine market.
Google has contacted two private equity firms to discuss financing such a purchase, according to the Wall Street Journal. The talks are still at a very early stage, and it is quite possible that Google will never make an official offer. Exactly which companies are involved was not disclosed. The buying interest is likely to have a lot to do with Google's rival Microsoft. The Windows company is also considering investing in Yahoo. According to the Wall Street Journal, however, it is not a complete purchase, but a larger stake that would give Microsoft more control over Yahoo, but at the same time minimize the risks of the Windows group.
The two companies are already cooperating on web search - all Yahoo searches run via Microsoft's Bing search engine. The agreements are limited to ten years. A search cooperation between Yahoo and Google failed in 2008 due to antitrust concerns.
(Source: Spiegel.de)
