Reuters becomes the target of takeover bid
Mumbai: Financial news and data provider Reuters has received a takeover approach from an unidentified bidder. A report on the Reuters website said Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported that Thomson was in talks to buy London-based Reuters citing sources close to both companies.

Thomson has been building up its financial news business and is in the process of selling its education division which is expected to raise $5 billion, the report added.

Other reports conjecture that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp might be interested after its $5 billion bid for US publisher Dow Jones & Co Inc was rebuffed by Dow Jones' controlling shareholders earlier this week.

The board of Reuters confirms it has received a preliminary approach from a third party, which may or may not lead to an offer being made for Reuters the financial data providing agency said in its statement.

Under Reuters ownership structure, no shareholder may own 15 per cent or more of Reuters shares, and a single golden share held by The Reuters Founder Share Co. can block a hostile bid.

The Reuters Founder Share Co is run by 15 trustees charged with ensuring the "independence, impartiality, integrity and freedom from bias" of the global news organisation.

The Reuters board is chaired by non-executive chairman Niall FitzGerald, ex-Unilever chief, and Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman designate of Infosys, is a member of the board. Tom Glocer is the chief executive officer.
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Microsoft seeks to buyout Yahoo
New York: Microsoft is in talks with Yahoo! for a possible takeover. Yahoo! is considered an obvious target for Microsoft, as a takeover would cut Google's lead in internet search and would allow Microsoft to become more competitive with vis-a-vis Google for online advertising, according to analysts.

Yahoo! shares were up 18 per cent at $33.29 in early trading, while Microsoft shares were down 1 per cent at $30.66.

Last year, Yahoo! rejected an offer from Microsoft to buy a stake in its search business.

Reports in the New York Post say Microsoft is working with Goldman Sachs on a possible deal.

Based on Thursday's closing stock price, Yahoo! has a market value of $38.2bn. Wall Street analysts consider the company to be worth as much as $50 bn, the New York Post said.
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MBA grads just love to work for Google
Houston: Google, the most popular search engine is now the most popular place to work for MBA students, ending McKinsey & Company's 12-year reign. Google which stood at 129th place in 2005, jumped to 2nd place in 2006 and to number one slot this year as the best place to work for MBAs. Google also appears in the top ten in all industry rankings (from investment banking to healthcare).

In the Universum IDEAL(TM) Employer Survey- MBA Edition 2007 conducted by Universum 5,451 MBA students were asked to rank their IDEAL(TM) Employers as well as to answer questions about their career expectations, including IDEAL Employer characteristics, preferred location, salary expectations, top industries and best internships communications preferences.

However, despite Google's new strength as the overall IDEAL(TM) employer, McKinsey remained the number 1 employer among men MBAs. Goldman Sachs (3) maintained its position in the top 10.

Bain & Co (4), BCG (5), Apple (6), Microsoft (7), GE (8), Nike (9) and Bank of America (10) round out the list.

McKinsey remained at 1st position as the top employer in management consulting. Google jumped to the fourth position, preceded by BCG (number 2) and Bain & Company (number 3).
Goldman Sachs still number 1 among students choosing a career in investment banking followed by Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan IB and Merrill Lynch. Bank of America replaced Citigroup as the number 1 IDEAL employer among MBA students interested in commercial banking.
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