Microsoft Bids On Norwegian Search Engine

Microsoft Corp. has reportedly bid $1.2 billion for a Norwegian search engine company called Fast Search & Transfer ASA. The $2.97 a share offer is a 42% premium over the company’s most recent average share price according to The Associated Press. The board of Fast Search overwhelmingly recommended that shareholders accept Microsoft’s offer.

The company was founded in 1997 and has about 500 employees. The firm specializes in high-end online search and business intelligence systems used by companies globally.

President of Microsoft Business Division Jeff Raikes said in a release that “Enterprise search is becoming an indispensible tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly. 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.”