Microsoft Makes Unsolicited Offer to Buy Yahoo! for 44.6 Billion

Well this is going to be an interesting one. Microsoft has just made an unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo! for 44.6 billion in a mixture of cash and stock at $31/share. Yahoo! has issued a press release stating that their board of directors is currently evaluating Microsoft’s proposal.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) today announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion. Microsoft’s proposal would allow the Yahoo! shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo! shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock on Jan. 31, 2008.

Ongoing coverage of this breaking story can be found on the rapidly expanding Techmeme thread.

See Previously: Microsoft Looking to Purchase Yahoo!

UPDATE 1: “Five subtle changes in the event that Microsoft acquires Yahoo!”

UPDATE 2: Here’s Yahoo!’s Media Response regarding the acquisition bid.