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Microsoft in Talks To Acquire Ebay

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the jigga-whaaaa dept.

thatedeguy writes "The NY Post is reporting that Microsoft and Ebay are in talks for the online auction house to join the Microsoft family." That said, the talks aren't going that well at the moment. From the article: " Sources indicate that the talks, while still active, have cooled somewhat in the last two weeks as executives considered antitrust issues. It is unclear what the full impact of yesterday's advertising and search alliance between Yahoo! and eBay will be for talks between MSN and eBay. One source close to the matter suggested the Yahoo-eBay tie-up would not stop Microsoft from pursuing the online auctioneer."

2 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Re:mmmm monopolies... by DrSkwid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In what way is that anything like with bundling IE/Media Player in Windows while having a "monopoly" position in the OS market ?

    Does Google have a monopoly in ANY sphere ?

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  2. Never happen by jasonditz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Microsoft probably would not be able to afford eBay. I'm a shareholder of ebay myself, and the way I see it, I would need either:

    $45 per share in cash
    or
    2.5 MSFT shares per 1 ebay share

    Which means Microsoft is either going to have to issue $30 billion in debt and spend all their existing cash, or relinquish 30%+ of the ownership of the combined company to eBay shareholders.

    I find it hard to believe they're willing to do either.

    Now, if they want to buy Skype from us or something, that's a different matter.