Microsoft pursues Yahoo! takeover

microsoft.jpgThe NY Post has the exclusive story this morning: Microsoft has once again approached Yahoo!, asking the Sunnyvale based search portal and content destination to come to the table and negotiate a friendly takeover by Microsoft.

The same report values Yahoo! at $50 billion; the interest by Microsoft is said to be serious to the point that world renowned bankers Goldman Sachs are advising Microsoft on the deal.

If the deal comes to fruition, the takeover would be one of the largest corporate takeovers in American corporate history, and likely the largest ever in the Tech sector.

It’s also interesting to observe the continued attempts by the any one but Google crowds’ attempts to win marketshare, from Ask’s bizarre viral marketing efforts (The Algorithm advertises above urinals), country specific deals such as Testra’s tie up with Microsoft’s NineMSN destination in Australia, to even this story now. It certainly is a strange time when Microsoft accuses Google of anti-competitive behavior one day, then actively seeks to acquire a leading competitor for the sole purpose of trying to compete with the Mountain View based uber company the next.

Update 10:20am EST: The market is taking the NY Post report seriously with Yahoo! stock up 18% at the time of writing and increasing on volume of 90m after only 20 minutes of trading compared to the 3 month daily trading average of 23m. The continued rise in Yahoo’s share price can naturally be tracked at Yahoo! here.

Update 1:30pm PST:
The WSJ is saying the deal isn’t happening.