Timeline: The saga of Microsoft and Yahoo

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It's been a year since Microsoft placed its massive bid on the table, in the hopes of taking over search firm Yahoo - leading to months of back-and-forth over price and more. Is it possible for the two companies to kiss and make up, and how will Yahoo make any sort of fight against Google's domination?

We run down the full year of the saga.

1 February 2008: Microsoft tables a $44.6 billion (£22.3 billion) unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo.

11 February 2008: Yahoo officially rejects Microsoft's offer after ten days of consideration. The board of Yahoo argued that Microsoft's offer undervalued the company.

14 February 2008: Reports claimed Yahoo has entered talks with media company News Corp about a possible merging of their online assets.

28 February 2008: Yahoo denounced Microsoft's bid as a 'significant distraction' requiring significant time and resources.

11 March 2008: News Corp cools its interest in a deal with Yahoo, as Rupert Murdoch announces that his media conglomerate has no plans to make an offer.

7 April 2008: Yahoo said it was not opposed to a Microsoft takeover bid, stating that its issue was with the value placed on its business, not the identity of the potential buyer.

11 April 2008: Analysts back Microsoft's Yahoo bid, even though Yahoo has been making moves to partner with AOL and Google.

5 May 2008: Microsoft walks away after the two giants disagree on a purchase price. This leads to Yahoo's share price falling by nearly a quarter, with pressure mounting on the search company to find another strategy.

16 June 2008 Microsoft reveals that Yahoo rejected an $8 billion offer for its search business.

8 August 2008: Rebel Yahoo shareholder Carl Icahn, who was in favour of a Microsoft deal, joins the board after a strong protest vote against board members.

30 October 2008: Yahoo and AOL have merger discussions, further sticking the boot into Microsoft.

6 November 2008: Jerry Yang says that he is still open to making a deal with Microsoft, but only at the right price. Steve Ballmer says Microsoft is not interested.

18 November 2008: Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang resigns.

20 November 2008: Microsoft says it definitely won't buy Yahoo, but there is still the chance of a web search partnership.

30 November 2008: A Times report claiming that Microsoft is planning a $20 billion bid is 'rubbished'.

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