Thursday's Winners & Losers: Millennium Pharmaceuticals

Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM Quote) said Thursday that it will be acquired by Japan's largest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, in a deal worth $8.8 billion -- the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese drugmaker to date. Takeda is paying $25 a share, or a 53% premium to Millennium's closing price of $16.35 a share on Wednesday. Shares rose $7.99, or 48.9%, to $24.34.

Shares of Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) gathered steam following a report in the Wall Street Journal that it may be close to merging its online operations with Time Warner's(TWX Quote) AOL in a bid to rebuff Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) unsolicited offer for the company.

Microsoft, which has made a $31-a-share offer for Yahoo!, is not sitting idle. It is reportedly talking to News Corp.(NWS Quote) to partner on its Yahoo! bid.

Yahoo!'s stock rose 85 cents, or 3.1%, to $28.62. Microsoft was up 34 cents, or $1.2%, to $29.23.

Pharma stocks were also green, particularly Wyeth (WYE Quote) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY Quote), which added 4.2% and 2.7%, respectively.

Among other winners, Ikon Office Solutions (IKN Quote) jumped 26.5% to $9.92. The Malvern, Pa.-based provider of document management solutions raised guidance for the second quarter, forecasting earnings per share between 22 cents and 24 cents, up from a previous look of 16 cents to 19 cents. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for 18 cents. Cross Research upgraded the stock to buy from hold with a price target of $11.

National Semiconductor(NSM Quote) also gained $1.33, or 6.8%, to $20.77 following an upgrade to neutral from sell by Dhanda, the BofA analyst.

On the losing side, Super Micro Computer (SMCI Quote) shares dropped 19.1% to $7.63. The provider of high-performance server solutions forecast third-quarter results for its fiscal 2008. Super Micro predicted revenue of $136.5 million to $137 million and EPS between 12 cents and 13 cents. Two analysts polled by Thomson are looking for EPS of 19 cents.