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Microsoft’s FAST bid will not improve its search position



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Jan 08 2008
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It’s a known fact that to be successful you need to focus and once you achieved it you got to continue focusing in doing what you do best. Most of the successful company tried to diversify but somehow they never succeed, at least in a big way. That’s why despite owning mountains of cash Microsoft could not simply send Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, stock) packing in the search engine section. Microsoft tried to unseat Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL, stock) iPod’s success with its Zune but met the same fate as MSN search engine.

Today it was reported that Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT, stock) has bid $1.2 billion for a Norwegian search engine company, Fast Search and Transfer ASA (OSL: FAST), which specializes in high-end Internet search and business intelligence systems. The bid price for the company which was founded in 1997 and currently employs about 500 people is $2.97 a share or about 42% premium over the Norwegian company’s recent average share price. The stock has risen by nearly the same amount in early trading on the Oslo stock exchange.
Microsoft bids FASTFast is a profitable company with revenue of $400 million. The acquisition will not in anyway help improve its existing position in consumer search market but would rather assist in the enterprise area. It was reported that Norway’s Orkla ASA and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, two largest shareholders, have already accepted the offer.



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