RSSAOL Denies Talks of Acquisition by Microsoft
By David Worthington | Published March 20, 2004, 4:09 AM
A rumor first reported by the New York Post sent shockwaves through the industry Friday afternoon. The Post claimed to have the inside track on secret negotiations between America Online and Microsoft discussing the latter's acquisition of the former.
When asked to elaborate on the rumors of a potential buyout, a Microsoft spokesperson immediately rushed to say, "As Microsoft's policy is not to comment on rumors and speculation, we have no information to provide regarding Microsoft's acquisition of AOL," while an AOL spokesperson told BetaNews, "no comment."
America Online has since denied the report.
According to the Post, Time Warner's lawyers have been examining the antitrust issues that would be initiated by Microsoft's attempted acquisition of AOL. The report indicated that a few barriers were found that would undermine the sale of the online business unit.
Microsoft has faced renewed antitrust pressure, this time stemming from the European Union Commission's view that the company is unfairly leveraging its Windows operating system to stifle competing products.
Despite a last ditch effort by CEO Steve Ballmer to settle the matter, the Commission is expected to rule against Microsoft and require the software maker to strip Windows Media Player technology from Windows, along with paying a hefty fine.
Wrong again ... YOU need help !
Score: 0
|hows he wrong? dumba** (see my post on xna development article)
Score: 0
|Has Microsoft denied it yet? :)
Score: 0
|It would be pretty funny if microsoft denied. :-]
Score: 0
|It would be pretty funny if microsoft denied. :-]
Score: 0
|Is it me or is Bill looking to take over or invest in every company, if you look at what he has been buying or investing in from 1980- 1999 it looks to me that he wants to own everthing to do with the internet, operating systems, media both computers & cable tv. you would think someone would say STOP enough is enough. here is of buying/investments from 1980- 1999
Company
Product or Service
Transaction Description
Year
Access Software
Developer of PC golf games.
Purchased company
1999
aha! Software
Developer of InkWriter, a pen-based mobile computing technology and patent-holder on handwriting recognition technologies.
Purchased company
1996
Alamira
Developer of Composer, a graphics software application.
Purchased company
1994
Apple Computer, Inc.
Personal computer manufacturer.
$150 million equity investment, broad technology sharing agreement.
1997
Ashton-Tate
Developers of dBase database software.
Joint venture to develop OS/2 database ended in acrimony.
1988
Aspect Engineering
Developer of Internet tools and technologies.
Purchased company
1996
Atomic Games
Developers of Close Combat action game.
Purchased software
?
AT&T
Telecommunications
Licensed Unix to develop Microsoft Xenix, though the actual coding was subcontracted to SCO, Inc.; Proposed $5 billion equity investment.
1980, 1999
Audible, Inc.
Internet Audio
$11 million equity investment.
1999
AvantGo
Handheld Web software and device developer.
$14.7 million equity investment jointly with 3Com.
1999
Banyan Systems
Developer of network software, including StreetTalk, BeyondMail and Vines.
Equity investment, $10 million employee training program
1999
BAO (Bruce Artwick Organization)
Developer of Microsoft Flight Simulator and Flight Shop, a Flight Simulator add-on.
Purchased company, canceled U.S. distribution of Flight Shop.
1995
Bettman Archives
World's largest collection of historical and news photographs.
Purchased company, integrated collection into Corbus, a company owned by Bill Gates.
1995
Black Entertainment Television
Entertainment and television cable company.
Joint venture, called MSBET.
1996
Blue Ribbon Soundworks, Ltd.
Developer of SuperJam, EasyKeys and other MIDI music products for Amiga, OS/2 and Windows.
Purchased company. EasyKeys for OS/2 and Amiga products discontinued soon after.
1995
British Royal Mail
The British Post Office
Joint venture, RelayOne project.
1998
Cable and Wireless Communications (UK)
Television cable
Proposed $4 billion equity investment.
1999
Cambridge University
Institution of higher education.
Invested $80 million to establish a basic research lab and $16 million in small technology companies mainly in the Cambridge area.
1997
CareerBuilder
Job information on Internet
$17.8 million equity investment.
1999
Citrix
Developers of connectivity software.
Agreed to purchase broad technology license for at least $175 million after threatening to release competing product.
1997
CMGI
Internet venture capitalists, with a wide variety of investments.
Equity investment
1998
Colusa
Developer of object-oriented programming software for the Internet.
Purchased company
1996
Comcast
Fourth-largest television cable providers in the U.S.
$1 billion (11.5%) equity investment
1997
CompareNet, Inc.
Management of database products and shopping comparison guides, to be integrated into MSN Sidewalk online guide.
Purchased company
1999
Concentic Network
ISP services WebTV for Microsoft.
$50 million equity investment and other joint initiatives.
1999
Cooper & Peters
Developer of EyeOpener, a Java-based office productivity application.
Purchased company for in excess of $20 million, apparently for the purpose of removing EyeOpener from the market.
1997
Cooper Software
Developer of Ruby, the foundation for Visual Basic.
Purchased software
1991
Dare to Dream Entertainment
unknown
Purchased company
1995
dbWeb
Web database producer.
Purchased company
1996?
Deutsche Telekom
Telecommunications, including telephone and cable.
Proposed $1 billion equity investment.
1999
Dialogic
Computer telephony products
Purchased 5% share of company for $24.2 million and separate licenses of company's products.
1999
Digital
unknown
Equity investment
1995
Digital Anvil
Action-story and action-strategy game developers.
Equity investment, including deal to work exclusively with Microsoft on PC and online game development.
1997
Digital Entertainment Network (DEN)
Interactive Web entertainment
Equity investment
1999
Digital Sound
Communications equipment developer.
Purchased 446,250 shares of Series B stock for $3.3 million (32.4% stake).
1997
Dimension X
Java Technology company with two internet-based Java products: Liquid Motion and Liquid Reality.
Purchased company
1997
Dorling Kindersley, Ltd.
Book publisher and international packager.
26% equity investment in exchange for rights to multimedia titles.
1991
DreamWorks SKG
Film and entertainment company formed by Steven Spielberg, et. al.
Joint venture
1995
Dynamical Systems
Multitasking software developer.
Purchased company, products integrated into Windows.
1986
E-Stamp Corporation
Internet postage software developers.
Equity investment
1997
eFusion
Internet applications gatesways developers.
Equity investment (along with France Telecom and Telecom Italia) and joint venture to develop technological standards for interconnecting home electronics and information appliances.
1997
Electric Gravity
Internet Gaming Zone creator.
Purchased company, then immediately announced that the IGZ would be accessible only to Windows users. The site was subsequently restricted to users of Internet Explorer.
1996
Elemental Software Inc.
E-commerce software developers.
Equity investment
1997
Ensemble Studios
Strategy game developer.
Bought rights to "Age of Empires" game.
1997
ENTEX Information Services
Company that handles most of Microsoft's help-desk activities.
Equity investment
1996
Equinix
Internet traffic exchange centers
Equity investment
1999
eShop
Internet-commerce software developer.
Purchased company
1996
EXOS
Developer of software for game-control devices.
Purchased company
1996
Fasa Interactive
Game developer (Battletech, Mechwarrior)
Purchased company
1999
Firefly Network Inc.
Personalization software
Purchased company for approximately $40 million.
1998
First Data Corp.
Banking industry services.
Joint venture to develop bill-presentation system, MSFDC.
1997
Flash Communications
Internet-based instant messaging and "buddy list" software.
Purchased company
1998
Forethought, Inc.
Presentation graphics software, became PowerPoint.
Purchased company
1987
Fox Software
Developer of database software FoxBase, became FoxPro.
Purchased company
1992
Gameworks
Video game parlors
Joint venture with Sega and Dreamworks SKG.
1996
General Magic
Developer of integrated voice and data applications.
Investment of $6 million in exchange for licensing technologies, including Serengeti, a computer network service to be integrated into Microsoft applications.
1998
Headspace
Music creation software and music publisher.
Licensed "Beatnik" software for inclusion in WebTV.
1998
Healtheon/Web MD
Internet delivery of health & medical information.
$250 million equity investment
1999
Helicon Publishing Ltd.
Multimedia encyclopedia publishers (UK).
Equity investment
1996
Hotmail
Free e-mail service with 9.5 million subscribers.
Purchased company for perhaps as much as $400 million and incorporated it into Microsoft Network.
1997
IBM
Computer manufacturer.
Variety of business relationships, including MS-DOS and OS/2.
1981-
ICL
Informations technology services
Expansion of strategic alliance to develop a wide variety of Windows-based corporate and consumer services.
1999
Individual, Inc.
Computer services company specializing in customized news and content delivery, including ClariNet.
Equity investment (7.4%, or over one million shares).
1997
Infoseek
Internet search engine
Equity investment in exchange for preferential display of Microsoft products.
1997
Inktomi
Search-engine software developer.
Licensed technology for use on Microsoft Network.
1997
Inprise (formerly Borlandl)
Developer tools, enterprise databases
$100 million to resolve patent dispute, $25 million (10%) equity investment.
1999
Insignia Solutions
Windows emulation software for RISC microprocessors.
Purchased software
1997?
Interactive Objects
Audio playback technology for handheld computers.
Purchased technology
1999
Intergraph
Workstation manufacturer.
Licensed source code for its NFS client (DiskAccess/DiskShare) to Microsoft to promote Windows NT to UNIX interoperability.
1998
Interse
Website-tracking software developer.
Purchased company
1997
Ioptics
Portable optical storage devices.
$9.5 million equity investment.
1998
Jump Networks Inc.
Web-based e-mail and calendar service.
Purchased company
1999
K-Tel
Leading repackager of "oldies" pop music hits.
Deal to include "K-Tel Express" online music and home video service on Microsoft's MSN Shopping network.
1998
Lattice
Developer of Lattice C code compiler, became Visual C++
Purchased software
1983?
Lernout & Hauspie
Belgian speech technology firm.
Equity investment ($45 million for 1,450,210 shares in stock).
1997
LinkAge Software
Email connectivity and directory synchronization software.
Purchased company
1997
LinkExchange
Web-based advertising
Purchased company for between $200 and $265 million.
1998
Liquid Audio
Audio streaming technology developers.
Joint promotion of products and technology; Liquid Audio adopts Microsoft's NetShow streaming media technology and Advanced Streaming Format.
1997
Mesa Group
Data and collaborative application migration services.
Purchased company
1998
MetaCreations
Graphics software developers.
Licensed MetaStream 3D graphics file format and run-time engine for integration into future versions of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface.
1998
Micrographx
Developer of graphics software applications.
Initially offered to purchase software, but instead created similar product after viewing source code for Micrographx's product.
1989?
MTel (SkyTel Communication)
Two-way pager services and other communications equipment.
Equity investment
1996
National Broadcasting Company
U.S. television network.
Joint venture to create the MSNBC news service on the Internet and cable television.
1995
Navitel
Developer of network telephone technologies, including Navitel ScreenPhone.
Equity investment accompanied by annoucement that Navitel will begin developing software for Windows CE.
1997
NetCarta
Developer of WebMapper, a website management tool.
Purchased company
1996
Netwise
Mainframe/midrange connectivity company.
Purchased company
1995
Network Managers Inc.
Network managment software.
Purchased SNMP technology
1995
NextBase Ltd.
Digital mapping company, developers of Autoroute Express.
Purchased company
1994
Nextel Communications
Telecommunications, cellular telephones, pagers.
$600 million equity investment (4.25% of common stock); deal to integrate MSN connections into wireless devices.
1999
NorthPoint Communications
High-speed digital subscriber line provider.
$30 million equity investment
1999
NTL
The parent of UK's 3rd largest cable TV company, CableTel.
$500 million (5%) equity investment.
1999
OmniBrowse Inc.
Wireless data services for handheld computers.
Purchased company
1999
OneTree Software
Publisher of SourceSafe software.
Shortly after SourceSafe's release, Microsoft pre-announced a similar application called Microsoft Delta, which failed to sell. Microsoft then purchased OneTree and renamed SourceSafe as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.
1994
OpenPort
Internet faxing technology.
Equity investment
1998
Panorama Software
Database software integration developers.
Aquired OLAP technology
1996
Pluto Technologies
Networking and other equipment for TV broadcasting.
Equity investment
1998
Portugal Telecom
Phone company of Portugal.
Strategic agreement to jointly develop interactive video and data services and $38.6 million equity investment.
1999
Proginet
Developers of "HostOffice," Mainframe to PC integration software.
Equity investment, technology transfer and marketing agreement.
1996
Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd.
Australian media group.
$25 million joint venture contribution to create Internet service "Ninemsn."
1998
QualComm
Cellular phone service provider.
$50 million joint venture to form new wireless communications company, Wireless Knowledge.
1998
Quark, Inc.
Developers of desktop publishing software.
"Strategic alliance" in technology, business development, and joint sales and marketing.
1998
Qwest Communications
Long-distance telephone carrier.
Purchased $200 million in common stock, representing a 1.33% equity investment.
1998
RealNetworks (formerly Progressive Networks)
Leading streaming media software developer (Real Audio and Real Video).
$30 million (10%) equity investment, license to use Real Audio and Real Video in NetShow.
1997
Reciprocal
Internet music and media delivery
10-15% equity investment
1999
RenderMorphics, Ltd.
3d graphics software developer, including Reality Lab.
Purchased company
1995
Reservation Works LLC
Travel softwaredeveloper.
Equity investment
1998
ResNova Software
Developer of Macintosh Internet technologies.
Purchased company
1996
Rhythms NetConnections
High-speed Internet access
$30 million equity investment
1999
Roadrunner
High-speed cable Internet access.
10% equity investment.
1998
Rogers Communications
Canadian cable television provider.
$400 million (US) equity investment, and agreements to provide digital broadcasting services via set-top boxes.
1999
The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO)
Owners of the OS source code that began as AT&T UNIX.
11.5% equity investment.
1989?
SaveSmart (now Prio)
E-commerce promotions.
Equity investment
1998
Seattle Computer Products
Developer of 86Q-DOS operating system software, which became MS-DOS.
Purchased software for $50,000, but later was sued and paid the company a nearly $1 million settlement.
1981
Sendit (Sweden)
Cell phone to Internet communictions software developer.
Purchased company for $120 million in cash.
1999
ShadowFactor
Gaming software technology.
Purchaded company
1999
ShareWave, Inc.
Home and multimedia networking products
Undisclosed portion of a $7.5 million equity investment with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, among others
1998
SingleTrac Entertainment
Games developer.
Equity investment
1996
Softimage
3d graphics applications developer.
Purchased company ; eventually discontinued development of non-Windows products, then sold company in 1999.
1994
Spyglass
Web browser software application.
Purchased software, which became Internet Explorer. In 1997 Spyglass alleged that Microsoft was withholding royalty payments and requested an audit. In 1999, a $20 million deal to develop browser technology for WindowsCE.
1995, 1999
Stac
Developer of Stacker file compression software.
After a failed attempt to license Stacker for DOS 6.0, Microsoft developed a similar product which infringed on Stac's patents. Stac was awarded $120 million in damages, which was partially settled with an investment in Stac by Microsoft.
1995
Sybase
Software code, modified to produce Microsoft SQL Server 6.0
Purchased software
1988
Symantec (formerly Peter Norton)
Operating system utilities developer
Speed Disk and defragmentation technologies for DOS 6.x, Windows 3.x and Windows 9.x were based on the products purchased or licensed from Peter Norton.
1991?
SyNet
Internet service provider.
Microsoft sued this holder of the "Internet Explorer" trademark in 1994, forcing it into bankruptcy. Though Microsoft settled for $5 million, SyNet closed its doors.
1998
Tandem
Manufacturers of credit card and ATM transation hardware and software.
Equity investment, cross-licensing.
1996
TCI
Largest U.S. cable TV provider.
20% stake holder in Microsoft Network. TCI licensed Windows CE for use in set-top cable boxes.
1998
Telewest
Largest television cable provider in the UK.
Equity investment (29.9%)
1999
ThingWorld.com
Internet content delivery services
Investment
1999
Thomson Multimedia S.A. (France)
Multimedia and interactive TV.
7.5% equity investment.
1998
3Com
Communications and networking hardware and software.
Joint venture to produce LAN Manager, networking software for OS/2, ended in huge losses for 3Com.
1989
Trados GmbH
German language translation software developer.
Equity investment?
1997
Transvirtual
Developers of Java programming lanugage clone "Kaffe."
Funded development of Kaffe.
1999
Tut Systems
Developers of "HomeRun," a "smart house" technology.
Equity investment and joint venture to develop technological standards for interconnecting home electronics and information appliances.
1997
Ubuy.com
Subsidiary of Interactive Technologies provides online services to households and businesses.
Purchased customer lists, deal to feature MSN on Ubuy.com's portal.
1999
United Pan-Europe Communications N.V.
Cable systems owner in ten European countries and Israel.
Equity investment.
1999
UPC
Dutch cable television and telephone company.
$300 million equity investment on the company's initial public offering; agreement to develop digital video, Internet, and Internet-based telephone services in Europe.
1999
US West Communications
Telecommunications conglomerate
$1 billion equity investment in cable operations.
1997
UUNET Technolgies
Major Internet backbone and service provider.
Equity investment
1995
Valence Software
Load-balancing software for mail and web servers.
Purchased company. Valence's "Convoy Cluster" product becomes "Windows NT Load Balancing Service."
1998
Vanstar (now Inacom)
Technology sevices provider.
Equity investment
1995
VDOnet Corp.
Internet digital video delivery.
Equity investment
1996
VenturCom
Embedded systems tools developer.
Technology license
1998
Verisign
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificate solutions developers.
Equity investment
1996
Vermeer Technologies Inc.
Developer of hypertext (World Wide Web) editing software.
Purchased company for between $80-100 million; Vermeer became Microsoft FrontPage.
1996
Visa International
Credit card company.
Joint venture to create Internet banking transaction technology standards.
1994
VXtreme
Streaming media software developer.
Purchased company for an estimated $75 million.
1997
Wang Labs
Document imaging and workflow company.
Equity investment of 10% ($90 million) to settle lawsuit in which Wang claimed Microsoft's OLE technology infringed their patents. As part of settlement, Wang imaging software is now part of Windows 95 OSR2 and NT 4.0 SP3.
1996
Waves
Audio technology developers.
License to use Waves "TrueVerb" technologies in future versions of Windows operating systems.
1999
Webcorp
Web peer-to-peer network operating system.
Purchased software and hired developers.
1993
WebTV Networks
TV set-top Internet device manufacturer.
Purchased company for $425 million.
1997
Wildfire Communications
Advanced telephone voice-mail systems.
Equity investment, somewhere under $12 million.
1997
Wink Communications
Television viewer response
$30 milliion equity investment
1999
Wireless Knowledge
Internet access for mobile users.
Equity investment (product of joint venture with QualComm).
1998
Xerox
Digital and photo copier manufacturer.
Joint software development at Xerox PARC labs.
1999
Z-Nix
Mouse manufacturer for PCs.
Agreement to bundle "Super Mouse" with Windows resulted in antitrust suit when Microsoft attempted to double its royalty charges.
1990
ZoomIt
Meta-directory software products developer.
Purchased company, integrate technologies into Microsoft Active Directory service of Windows 2000 Server.
1999
ZSoft
Graphics software developer.
Purchased Paintbrush software to bundle with Windows 3.0.
1990
Score: 0
|You forgot one, though this one may not be the most well known aquisition by Microsoft:
Perforce Software
Developers of a SCMS (Software Configuration Management System)
Bought source code of Perforce to develop into an in-house SCMS system to replace their original one.
Score: 0
|thats pretty shocking to hear, but its more funny then it is shocking. i haven't really considered what might happen if AOL was acquired by MSFT. that would be a sight to see.
i read about MSFT losing that anti-trust case in Europe, and i think its absolutely rediculous. if i made a multi-billion dollar operating system i'm going to include whatever i want in it! i don't believe they should have to remove WMP from Windows, just because RealNetworks and Macrodmedia aren't cutting it over there. the way i see it, if a user wants another such media player or software different from what MSFT included in THEIR operating system, the user can get it themselves.
and i think its even more disgusting that they have to sell out a portion of their source code to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun is competing with MSFT for the office suite right now! in my opinion, they don't owe them jack!
but that's just my opinion on the subject. :).
Score: 0
|Real, AOL, and SCO
are three of the worst computer-related companies I know in my life.
Why would Microsoft buy AOL?
AOL now is pretty worthless to me.
It's amazing how they turn three once-1st-rated software titles into shxt.
Winamp, Netscape, and ICQ.
and it's about time AOL executives realize that
their customers are not idiots,
going online and getting email are easy as hell already.
Score: 0
|They may be one of the worst computer-related companies, but they do make quite a bit of money.
Score: 0
|AOL caused Time Warner to post a $56 BILLION dollar loss last year. I wouldn't say that's making quite a bit of money.
AOL has also decided to get out of the broadband business and just stick with dial-up access and being a content provider. As you can probably guess, dial-up isn't going to cut it in the future as an ISP. This is why MS would want them, because they could integrate AOL portal services and technology into MSN products, which already has broadband services.
Score: 0
|Funny is if the acquistion went through, Microsoft would own Netscape...
Score: 0
|Scary, that might just add an additional explaination for AOL setting up the Moz organization as a separate entity from AOL. MS buys AOL - squashes Netscape - but Mozilla is untouchable.
Score: 0
|AOL is getting out of broadband? Where did you read this?
Score: 0
|