[Mars Guitars]

This is what the BBC has to say about it....

Google has said it finds Microsoft's $44.6bn (£22.65bn) bid to buy rival Yahoo "troubling" and wants regulators to scrutinise the proposed deal.
In a blog, Google said the tie-up could unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email and instant messaging services.

It said Microsoft had previously sought "to establish proprietary monopolies".

Microsoft made an unsolicited offer for Yahoo on Friday, and Yahoo has said it is considering the proposal.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, told analysts at a briefing on Monday the proposed takeover would create a "strong number two competitor"....

But that view is not held by the top executives at Google.

"Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions," said David Drummond, Google's senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer.

"This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the internet: openness and innovation," he said in a company blog.

"While the internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies - and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets," he said.

In 2004 the European Commission fined Microsoft 497m euros for abusing its market dominance, a ruling the US company finally lost on appeal in September last year.