What Might Have Been: Microsoft Almost Bought SAP

steveorama writes "This article from Bloomberg indicates that 'Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, approached late last year about buying the German company, a combination that would have vaulted it to the biggest seller of software for business applications.'" The talks came out in advance of likely disclosure in the ongoing merger battle involving Oracle, PeopleSoft and the U.S. Department of Justice. An anonymous reader points to this article in the Financial Times, adding "Microsoft says the discussions were halted due to the complexity involved in the transaction and in integrating the two companies. A merger with SAP would be a profound break with previous Microsoft strategy, and would likely have raised eyebrows among regulators."

Comments

Mirror , just in case

[mirror_dude]

Just in case the server crashes and burns (like they usually do),I have put up a mirror.
The mirror of http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103& sid=a8yRk1nepHpM&refer=news_index is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_8/quote.bloomberg.c om/apps/news%3fpid=10000103&amp%3bsid=a8yRk1nepHpM &amp%3brefer=news_index
The mirror of http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename= FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=10864454784 82&p=1012571727088 is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_8/news.ft.com/servl et/ContentServer%3fpagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullSto ry&c=StoryFT&cid=1086445478482&p=1012571727088