Microsoft bid 31 dollars per share in a move to buy out Yahoo! today. There were talks and rumors of such a transaction back in May of 2007. But no one thought that it would actually happen.

Industry analysts valued Yahoo! at $50 billion and estimated the deal would give Microsoft just over a quarter of the search engine advertising market, with Google-DoubleClick controlling two thirds. At the time Yahoo! shares jumped by five dollars. Now with the present instabilities in the stock market there is a possibility the move will save Yahoo! from loosing further market value.

This is a good move for Microsoft and a wonderful thing for Yahoo!. Yahoo! has never been considered a global company with a serious lack of coverage in online advertising in Europe and other parts of the world outside of the U.S. Microsoft being a global company in the true sense can bring Yahoo into markets that they could not afford to try before.

So what would this mean to web developers? Who knows.

Happy Publishing!

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