Google in merger talks with Microsoft

[CivCube]

Uh-oh...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ml&sSheet=/portal/2003/10/31/ixportaltop.html

Microsoft in merger talks with Google
(Filed: 31/10/2003)

Microsoft is reported to be pursuing a partnership or merger with online search company Google.

Bill Gates's company is said to have held talks with Google in recent weeks, during which the possibility of a takeover was also raised. Google is still said to prefer to use Wall Street to sell its initial offering, followed by an online auction, according to the New York Times.

Both companies have refused to comment.

There has been intense speculation about Google in recent weeks after the company told Wall Street it hoped to sell shares to the public in the first half of next year.

Google has recently held meetings with bankers in preparation for an initial public offering, the newspaper said. The offering could be worth between £9.4 billion and £15.6 billion, according to estimates.

Creators, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, are considering selling a 10 per cent or 15 per cent stake to the public, raising an estimated £1.25 billion.

The search engine, which was set up by the two Stanford university graduates in 1998. Since its establishment Google has become one of the most used websites in the world.

 

[damunzy]

I read elsewhere that Google is more interested in doing it on their own (not being part of MS). They have been entertaining the thought of not going through the normal stock exchanges but doing an auction for their stocks...

 

[Aphex_Twin]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!

Now you'll not be able to access Google unless you have Win XP, IE6 and ol' Gates staring into your computer...

 

[anarchywrksbest]

Its says "possibility".

Not gonna happen.

 

[panzer_kevlar]

oh dear. if this happens, i'll be forced to use the inferior Yahoo! search engine...

 

[Perfection]

If this occurs, Perfection will be angry, no wants to be around me when I get angry

 

[t92300]

looks like i'll have to go else where

 

[cgannon64]

Today: Google in merger talks with Microsoft.

Tomorrow: Halliburton, Wal-Mart, GE, in merger talks with Microsoft.

Not to far away: God in merger talks with Microsoft.

 

[Plexus]

NOOOOOO!

I really do not want to have to use a different search engine, but I will if MS forces me to.

 

[panzer_kevlar]

the eventual truth: MSNBCBSBBCNNGOOGLE

 

[Aphex_Twin]

NOOOOOO!

I really do not want to have to use a different search engine, but I will if MS forces me to.

Altavista is still a very good search engine for web pages and the BEST image searcher... Try it

 

[Riesstiu IV]

Try Hotbot.com! It's also a good search engine... I used it before I knew about google.

 

[CivEmperor]

Noooo if they merge serches for Mac and linux will definetlly go down in #