A very low price if they really believed all the hot air they were pumping out. It's an implicit admission by Powerset's management and board that they didn't genuinely believe they were about to do something extraordinary.

It was already pretty obvious that Microsoft is so braindead these days that they'll spend hundreds of millions for the mere appearance of being able to compete with Google in internet technology. I suppose if their stock stays up an extra $100 million it sort of pays for itself.