Microsoft may aquire eBay
Published May 27th, 2006
For several weeks Microsoft has been in discussions about a possible acquisition of online auctioneer eBay, The Post has learned.
According to multiple sources close to the matter, Microsoft has considered buying eBay and merging it with its MSN portal - a deal that would give MSN and eBay considerable clout to take on Google.
Sources indicate that the talks, while still active, have cooled somewhat in the last two weeks as executives considered antitrust issues.
It is unclear what the full impact of yesterday’s advertising and search alliance between Yahoo! and eBay will be for talks between MSN and eBay.
One source close to the matter suggested the Yahoo-eBay tie-up would not stop Microsoft from pursuing the online auctioneer.
Last year Microsoft was close to a deal with Time Warner that would have combined America Online and MSN. But Microsoft eventually lost out to Google.
The potential deal was considered important for MSN, as it would have resulted in AOL switching from Google’s search technology to MSN’s technology.
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