INSTANT VIEW: Microsoft bids for Yahoo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp, the software giant, said on Friday it had offered to acquire Internet media company Yahoo Inc in a proposed cash and stock deal valued at $44.6 billion.

Microsoft said it had offered to buy Yahoo for $31 per share, which it said represented a 62 percent premium above the company's closing stock price on Nasdaq on Thursday.

LAURA MARTIN, ANALYST AT SOLEIL-MEDIA METRICS IN NEW YORK

"It's about time. Great for Microsoft. Great for Yahoo shareholders. These Internet markets are winner-take-all markets and they cannot be built. Time is too valuable. Yahoo has one of the best positions on the Internet because it's integrated brand (advertising) with search.

"There could be a little more money on the table. The company is in play. Yahoo will not be able to stay independent. Other bidders will emerge before this is over. Not Google -- they can't even get DoubleClick closed, they won't get Yahoo closed.

"They're in a pole position in several major industries. I expect News (Corp), Comcast, and GE will look at it. But Microsoft is paying a lot because they're trying to scare away other bidders."

TIM SMALLS, HEAD OF U.S. STOCK TRADING AT BROKERAGE FIRM EXECUTION LLC IN GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT

"Shocking! To me, the premium seems exorbitant, for what is a dwindling business. I personally don't see how the synergies of Microsoft-Yahoo is going to take on Google.

"It will obviously help the stock market immensely -- the overall market loves a big deal, here you go, and the futures are screaming.

"This is going to take everybody's attention today. Especially in a distressed market, if you get a financial deal or a technology deal, that's really going to captivate the market and that's what you've got right now."

GENE MUNSTER, ANALYST, PIPER JAFFRAY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

"They have to do it because they've tried everything they can do to fix MSN. Yahoo is the most visited site in the world, so it goes without saying that given the current valuation, this is the perfect time for them to buy it.

"Google is running away with the search market and that's obviously the best part of the market. The likelihood that Google gets caught is slim to none.

"You might not catch Google, but you can still be a legitimate player."

BEN WOOD, UK-BASED DIRECTOR OF TECH RESEARCH AT CCS INSIGHT

"Yahoo! delivers Microsoft a well-known web entity with a strong user base (particularly in the US), one of the largest email user communities and a wealth of other assets such as photosharing website Flickr.