aQuantive, Fast Search and Transfer and Farecast each brought in a few hundred employees when they got acquired by Microsoft.

The AOL branch of Time Warner and Facebook were among several others believed to have been on Microsoft’s shopping list. However they have decided to put a stop to any further acquisitions for now.

After the failure of talks with Yahoo!, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer and Kevin Johnson, Head of Microsoft’s Windows and Internet Businesses, explained to the Financial Times that the attempt to buy Yahoo! was with the sole intention of strengthening Microsoft’s advertising business, of which search advertising is the most important part for revenue generation.

Steve Ballmer said, “at the end of the day, this is about the ad platform. This is not about just one of the applications.” Microsoft supposedly would work towards these goals from within and said they had made plans to build a center for search technology in Europe.

Today however, fresh rumours surfaced about renwed talks of a full acquisition of Yahoo! at a price lower than the $33 they had previously offered.

Fast Search and Transfer has made minor headlines in the past year with its mobile search product and deals forged with Virgin Mobile and Infospace. The company offers a range of services including enterprise search, eCommerce solutions, information management, mobile and online media to about 3500 companies, some of which fall in the Fortune 500.

As per the public declaration, Microsoft has offered Fast Search and Transfer US $3.56 per share, which is a 42 percent premium on its share price of Jan 4 2008. The total value of the deal is estimated to be US $1.2 billion or £600 million. The board of directors at Fast Search obviously consider this an excellent offer as they have unanimously recommended that its shareholders should accept it. Over 35% of the shareholders have already agreed to accept the offer.

As in all business deals there are observers and analysts who approve of the deal and those who do not. There are many who feel that $1.2 billion is too much money for a company like Fast, and that Microsoft should have waited a while and acquired the company at a lower price, once the recession, which the U.S. economy seems to be heading towards, had struck. Others believe that this is a smart move by Microsoft, and will help them further consolidate their position in the long run.

In all likelihood, the deal will have little impact on the overall search market, but will provide Microsoft access to a more robust mobile search offering and a new distribution network.