Microsoft is said to be ready to pay several billion dollars in exchange for Yahoo!’s search advertising business. Microsoft has also agreed to make additional payments back to Yahoo!, too.
Considering the rocky road Microsoft and Yahoo! have taken to get to this point, there’s no guarantee that the deal won’t fall apart at the last minute. Microsoft first offered Yahoo! an unsolicited buy out offer worth about U$44 billion in February 2008, but Yahoo! rejected the deal after claiming it undervalued the company.
The two companies openly bickered about their on-again-off-again negotiations, and at one point Yahoo! faced a hostile take over attempt.
If the deal does come together Microsoft may finally be in a better position to take on Google, the reigning king of Internet search dollars.