by Brian Solis

Yahoo stock shot up over 50% in pre-market trading today on Microsoft’s news that it proposed a 44 billion dollar take over at $31 per share (which was a 60% premium over Thursday’s close price.)

Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, stated, “We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market. We believe our combination will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders and better choice and innovation to our customers and industry partners.”

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