The US-based software giant Microsoft Corporation recently entered into talks intended at taking over the biggest Czech Internet portal Seznam.cz, local media reports revealed. Microsoft earlier announced that the company would be looking to strengthen its position on the on-line market and the purchase of Seznam thus would toe this new strategic line. Seznam.cz founder and majority owner Ivo Lukacovic reportedly was scheduled to meet Microsoft head Steve Ballmer in Prague sometime in mid-May. Though sources close to the minority shareholders in the Czech portal confirmed the deal, the 70 percent stake holder, Lukacovic denied the information repeatedly. “I will not sell Seznam,” Lukacovic told local daily Hospodarske noviny. Seznam, visited by 2.1 million users a day, was founded by Lukacovic in 1996 as the first Czech Internet search company. Seznam expects sales of around 1.4 billion Czech crowns (55.4 million Euro) and profit exceeding 500 million crowns (19.8 million Euro) for last year. The total purchase price will likely hover around USD one billion, that is, roughly 16 billion crowns.