A press report stating that Microsoft has restarted talks to buy Yahoo's search business for 20 billion U. S. dollars. "It has no basis in fact," the San Francisco Chronicle said on Monday.
The Times of London reported on Sunday that the deal under discussion would put former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media, in charge of Yahoo. The report also said executives (管理人员) at both companies had agreed to the broad terms of a deal.
In fact, there are no current talks between the two companies. The Chronicle quoted an executive at one of the firms who requested his name to be kept secret as saying. Furthermore, the 20-billion-dollar price mentioned in the Times of London article for Yahoo's search business appears questionable given that the market capitalization (资本总额) for all of Yahoo is 16 billion dollars, said The Chronicle.
Yahoo and Microsoft had had on-again, off-again talks over several months earlier this year about a 47. 5-billion-dollar takeover, and later a proposal focused only on Yahoo's search business. Discussions regarding both plans collapsed without an agreement.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said repeatedly that he is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo, but that he is open to some sort of partnership involving their respective search businesses.
Brad Williams, a Yahoo spokesman, said Sunday "We don't comment on rumors." Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman, declined to comment.
Yahoo's shares have plummeted since Microsoft withdrew its 33-dollar-a-share acquisition offer earlier this year, leaving people to think that discussions would eventually be restarted. Yahoo's shares closed Friday at 11. 51 dollars, nearly one-third of the original offer.
1. From this passage, we can know that ______.
A. Microsoft has given up buying all of Yahoo but its search business
B. Microsoft has already taken over the whole company of Yahoo
C. the market capitalization for all of Yahoo is over $ 20 billion
D. the market capitalization for all of Microsoft is only $ 6 billion
2. What is the author trying to convince readers of in the third paragraph?
A. Yahoo and Microsoft are talking about takeover.
B. Microsoft is buying Yahoo’s search businesses for $ 20 billion.
C. Yahoo would like to sell its search businesses to another company.
D. There are no current talks between Yahoo and Microsoft.
3. What does the underlined word “plummet” in the passage most probably mean?
A. develop rapidly B. increase quickly C. fall quickly D. keep balanced
4. You can find this passage most probably in ______ .
A. an entertainment website B. an economical newspaper
C. a sports magazine D. a biological dictionary