I'd give 'em a buck and a half

"Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, made an unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo! Inc. to challenge Google Inc.'s dominance in Internet search services and advertising."

Well, at least Microsoft will have to spend some of their ill-gotten money: "Microsoft is under massive pressure to expand its Internet business to fend off competition from rivals such as Google and this deal shows how desperate they are"' said Thomas Radinger, a fund manager at Pioneer Investments in Munich, which oversees about $95 billion, including Microsoft shares. "It's a huge gamble as the price is very steep and it will take years to successfully integrate such a massive acquisition."

"Yahoo's inability to crack Google's dominance in search has led to eight straight quarters of declining profit and a stock that's lost half its value in the past two years."

Rico is laughing up his virtual sleeve. But if only they'd waited another year, Yahoo might've been cheap...