After a series of acquisitions to strengthen its position in the area of online advertising, Microsoft came with a bid today today for the famous American Yahoo portal of 44.6 billion dollars.

In a statement, the world’s number one software indicates that the acquisition would achieve up to a billion dollars per year of synergies. The bid comes as Yahoo has released its financial results described as disappointing and to announce its intention to conduct an internal restructuring that will lead to the removal of about a thousand posts.

“We have great respect for Yahoo, together we can propose an incredibly wide range of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while positioning ourselves better for competition in the market for online services,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. In an open letter to members of the board of Yahoo, it reminds them that a first approximation proposal was made in February 2007, then refused on the grounds that Yahoo had in cartons Otherwise resume the hand in the market for online advertising, particularly through its platform Panama.

“A year has passed and the situation has not improved,” said Steve Ballmer.  A commercial partnership could make sense for a time, but Microsoft now believes that the only viable alternative is the approximation that we are proposing.

Google in sight?

While it is still the number one portal in terms of audience in the United States with 136.6 million visitors in December 2007, compared with 132.9 million for its great rival Google, Yahoo is on the side train of online searching, with approximately 23% market share compared with nearly 59% for Google according to Comscore. The various sites of Microsoft Group totals for their 120 million visitors, while the search engine Live Search represents 9.8% of searches conducted in the United States. Even at the global level, Google would remain largely number one online searching in spite of the rapprochement. In December 2007, the Mountain View firm would have represented 62.7% of online searches in the world according to Comscore, compared with 12.8% for Yahoo and 2.9% for Microsoft.

“The market for online advertising know of extremely rapid growth, some $ 40 billion in 2007 to almost 80 billion in 2010 (…). Today, that market is largely dominated by one of its players. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo are in a position to offer a competitive choice while meeting the needs of their customers and partners, argues the editor of Redmond.

Although he still weighs more than $ 300 billion on the stock market, Microsoft penalty still to prevail on the Internet, an area where Google is leading while Yahoo knows some reduction in shape. At the conclusion of a possible merger, the new entity would be able to offer a one-stop shop for its advertisers, with an offer from the simple sponsored link to interactive marketing that would complement a pond audience of several hundred million ‘Internet users.

Microsoft expressed his optimism to achieve the merger in the second half of 2008, once the supervisors have given their approval. In a brief press release, Yahoo merely indicates that the offer has not been requested, but it will be carefully studied.