Seattle, Feb 04: Microsoft will pay about $200 million for its previously announced acquisition of PlaceWare, a privately held Web conferencing provider, according to a securities filing on Monday.

The purchase of PlaceWare, which was announced nearly two weeks ago, put the world's largest software maker squarely on the map in the fast-growing Web conferencing business. Previously, Microsoft had not disclosed the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the current quarter. As companies look to cut costs during prolonged sluggish growth in the economy, they have increasingly used Web conferencing for meetings, sales calls with outside customers and for online training courses, turning to companies such as PlaceWare and publicly traded rival WebEx Communications for Web conferencing services. Bureau Report