Microsoft buys social-networking specialist

Article Excerpt

MICROSOFT CORP. $30 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 8.4 billion; Market cap: $252.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.microsoft.com) is buying Yammer Inc. for $1.2 billion. This private company operates an online social network for businesses. Over 200,000 companies now use this service. Microsoft will probably add Yammer’s features to its Office suite of business programs. That would make it easier for Office users to collaborate on projects. Yammer should also add to Microsoft’s cloud computing expertise. Microsoft is a buy. buy…