Microsoft is probing Facebook's merger interest
Among the many choices on Microsoft's table after the Yahoo deal fell apart, you have to admit that a wholesale buyout of social networking phenom Facebook would make some of the biggest waves.
A tech industry blog published by Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Redmond's bankers had contacted Facebook leaders to "gauge their interest" in a buyout. Microsoft already holds a 1.6 percent stake in the social portal thanks to a $240 million investment last year, a ratio that would suggest a final price tag in the $15 billion range.
Facebook has remained standoffish to such advances, and even the Journal sources who talked to the company think it will stay independent and eventually go public on its own.
