Opera on Friday denied the latest takeover rumour spreading round the Internet, saying that it has not had any approaches from Microsoft or anyone else.
Rumours surfaced on Friday morning that Microsoft is close to completing a takeover offer for the Norwegian browser vendor, having outbid Google.
"Our phones have been ringing off the hook," said a spokesman for Opera. "But it's not true. We have not been bought, and we have not received any offers. It's just a rumour, like the Google rumour last week."
If Microsoft were to buy Opera it would effectively reduce the battle for browsers on Windows PCs to two contenders: Microsoft and the Mozilla Foundation.
Although Opera's market share has languished at less than 1 percent, compared to Firefox's 7.55 percent and IE's 86.9 percent, Opera's mobile browser is installed on a growing number of mobile devices, and the company says that downloads of its desktop browser quadrupled after it launched the free version 8.5 in October.
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Talkback
Why not Walmart of the government of n korea?
23 Dec 05 16:59 ReplyControlling shares in Opera would eliminate the need for a buy out. Opera *is* currently planning on becoming publicly traded, which will sooner or later mean that the company becomes beholden to investors rather than customers. Furthermore, Opera has brought in two executives from Microsoft to oversee the transition. At the best that means major changes for Opera. However, the difference in corporate culture in Norway and the US and between MS and everyone else only means that Opera will be badly off quickly. Be prepared to kiss that browser good bye. Perhaps this is the reason the mobile phone companies are investing in Minimo devel.
24 Dec 05 08:56 ReplyOpera A/S needs much more than a press release to assure the public of its good health.
I would appreciate a written agreement before such a deal were to take place. This website is not MacRumors, and indeed it is a rumor without any backup in writing
27 Apr 06 17:04 ReplyWhoever decided to rumor this has to pay!