Microsoft and Google: Partners or Rivals?

Google, which was founded by two Stanford computer science graduate students in 1998 and quickly became one of the most popular Web sites in the world, has in recent weeks become the subject of intense speculation since it indicated to Wall Street that it hoped to sell shares of itself to the public sometime in the first half of next year. Google is also apparently toying with the idea of using an online auction for a possible secondary offering as a way to allow its millions of users to have a better opportunity to buy its shares. However, all this is muddied because Microsoft - desperate to capture a slice of the popular and ad-generating search business - approached Google within the last two months to discuss options, including the possibility of a takeover.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/technology/31net.html?th
(NY Times, October 31, 2003)

Posted by Tom on October 31, 2003