Microsoft and Yahoo deal back
MICROSOFT-YAHOO TIMELINE
January 2008: Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $44.6bn in cash and shares, later raised to $47.5bn
May 2008: Microsoft walks away from the table after the two sides fail to agree on a price
June 2008: Yahoo strikes a deal to use Google’s technology, with Google ads appearing on some Yahoo search results
November 2008: Google abandons the Yahoo deal after objections from anti-trust regulators in the US
November 2008: Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang stands down as the firm’s boss
April 2009: Yahoo says it will cut 5% of its workforce after quarterly profits drop sharply
May 2009: Microsoft relaunches its own search engine, now branded bing.com
July 2009: After new speculation, Microsoft and Yahoo finally announce a web search deal
The deal ends years of back-and-forth negotiations between the two companies.
Microsoft originally offered to buy Yahoo in January 2008 - with an offer worth about $47.5bn.
But Mr Ballmer later withdrew that bid after Yahoo’s then boss, Mr Yang, demanded a higher price.
Yahoo instead opting for an online advertising partnership with rival Google instead.
But that tie-up was later abandoned because of the risk of a protracted battle with regulators over competition issues.
