Microsoft to acquire Norway's FAST for $1.2 billion
InternetNews | at | by Mike
Microsoft announced today that it would acquire Fast Search & Transfer, a Norwegian enterprise search company, for about $1.2 billion in cash.
The purchase price is based on a $3.5 per-share valuation of FAST's stock, 42 percent higher than its closing price of Jan. 4th.
The purchase could add more muscle to Microsoft's maneuvering against Google in the enterprise search market, such as its recent offer of its Search Server 2008 product as a free download.
Both companies are jockeying for position in the race to provide businesses with the tools to organize and retrieve information within their organizations and throughout the Web.