DealBook: Microsoft: Tight-Fisted No More? Microsoft had about $28 billion in cash and short-term investment on March 31, an amount the CIA World Factbook tells us is more than twice the gross domestic product of Iceland. But despite its riches, the software giant has shied away from large acquisitions, especially in the past five years or so.
Well, Microsoft could afford to sit on the sidelines for all those years because the only credible threat they faced was all the antitrust litigation. But now, with Google dominating the search industry and offering free online applications, the world has changed. Oh, Google’s purchase of DoubleClick may have played a role in that decision too. You think?
I’ve posted the Microsoft-aQuantive Merger Agreement. Other aQuantive Inc. contracts online as well.