Ars nails it:

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston. Bridget Moynahan and Tom Brady. Romeo and Juliet. And now, there’s Microsoft and Yahoo.

You can add the Microsoft-Yahoo love story to that list of famous break-ups and jilted lovers, as Steve Ballmer has officially withdrawn his three-month-old offer to combine the companies. According to a press release close to the deal, Ballmer still believes that the “proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole,” and that Redmond was prepared to raise its offer from $31 a share to $33, but Yahoo wanted at least $37 per share. That dainty Internet portal proved very hard to please.

The real winner?  Google.  Take that, Microsoft.

So, does this leave the door open for Apple to swoop in and play ball? They’ve got a lot of cash on hand and a purchase of Yahoo would add to their already awesome suite of applications.  Keep your eyes peeled — I bet those rumors will start to surface soon.

Tags: Apple, buyouts, finance, Microsoft, Yahoo!

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Geekery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.