With blood in the water at Yahoo, Microsoft wasted little time, making an unsolicited offer to buy the slumping internet titan for $44.6 billion.

"We have great respect for Yahoo, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement. "We believe our combination will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders and better choice and innovation to our customers and industry partners."

According to a report in The New York Times, Ballmer called Yahoo boss Jerry Yang last night to inform him of the deal, a move Microsoft has been considering for more than a year. Ballmer said the call to Yang was a "courtesy." 

While many industry analysts see Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo as a strong step toward tackling Google, the fear of such a merger has always been a problem of integration. However, Ballmer insisted that the deal would save both companies $1 billion per year, adding that Microsoft has created an integration plan.

Integration aside, it's not clear if Yahoo will accept the bid. Yahoo said its board would consider the offer "carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans." However, Ballmer pointed out that he expected some resistance, adding that he chose to make a public bid because he didn't believe private talks could be kept quiet.