Microsoft is Back on the Block it built

Microsoft is busy doing what Microsoft does best, invent stuff. While Google has been the big tech company over the past few years, and its stock prices continues to climb, it looks like Microsoft is ready to jump back in the driver's seat.

What's driving the new M; basically hardware. While Microsoft made its name, literally, in the software business it has been spurred on of late by hardware sales. First the Xbox 360 has out sold the Play Station 3 by millions of units; the new partnership with Ford and the Microsoft SYNC technology appears to be paying dividends; plus product placement like The Devil Wears Prada never hurts. We cant forget Zune, while Zune is not iPod and has not sold 100+ million units it is taking podcasting to a while new level: the Zune Community is a WiFi connected musical community where like-listeners can listen to whatever they wish.

Oh yeah, and by the way Microsoft wants to get into the search engine business. This seems like a blantant knock on Google's door. OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy search engine company Fast Search & Transfer ASA for $1.2 billion Tuesday, adding software products that help companies trawl for information on the Internet.

The offer of $2.97 per share, or 19 kroner, was 42 percent premium to the Norwegian company's recent average share price, and caused the stock to soar by nearly the same amount in early trading on the Oslo stock exchange. Fast's board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer, a news release said.

Fast, founded in 1997 in Oslo, specializes in tailored Web searches that allow major companies, from freight to telecommunications, to store and manage information.

"Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly," Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, said in a joint news release. "Until now organizations have been forced to choose between powerful, high-end search technologies or more mainstream, infrastructure solutions. The combination of Microsoft and FAST gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs."

Conditions of the offer include acceptance by at least 90 percent of Fast's shareholders under the terms of a formal offer to be made next week, the statement from the two companies said. The two largest institutional shareholders, Norway's Orkla ASA and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe have already accepted the offer, and the companies aim to complete the sale during the second quarter.

Fast's chief executive, John Lervik, said becoming part of Microsoft "gives Fast an exciting way to spread our cutting-edge search technologies and innovations to more and more organizations across the world."

My target for Microsoft is $42 in the next 24 weeks.