Who's that yahoo named Bill?

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Reports are coming from several places, that Bill Gates is getting serious about MS's long winded discussions with Yahoo. The NY Post think it is closer to becoming Microsoft Yahoo than it ever has been!

[SIZE="5"]BILL'S HARD DRIVE
[/SIZE][SIZE="4"]MICROSOFT EYES SEARCH GIANT IN PROPOSED TAKEOVER[/SIZE]
".....Stung by the loss of Internet advertising firm DoubleClick to Google last month, Microsoft has intensified its pursuit of a deal with Yahoo!, asking the company to re-enter formal negotiations, The Post has learned.
While Microsoft and Yahoo! have held informal deal talks over the years, sources say the latest approach signals an urgency on Microsoft's part that has up until now been lacking.
The new approach follows an offer Microsoft made to acquire Yahoo! a few months ago, sources said. But Yahoo! spurned the advances of the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant. Wall Street sources put a roughly $50 billion price tag on Yahoo!....." Article here.....

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[SIZE="5"]BILL'S HARD DRIVE
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Might've went soft, if it was ever hard to begin with!

[SIZE="3"]Microsoft-Yahoo talks no longer active
[/SIZE]May 7, 2007 - 11:18AM

Friday's dramatic bounce in Yahoo's stock on reports of a deal with Microsoft - later discredited - reflects the pressure facing the third- and second-largest internet companies as they struggle to gain market share from Google.

Behind Friday's flurry is the fact that Yahoo is the only meaningful acquisition Microsoft can make to significantly strengthen its internet business, said Ben Schachter, an analyst with UBS.

That is in part because promising internet advertising companies like DoubleClick have shown a clear preference for being bought by Google, rather than Microsoft or Yahoo, making it hard for those two to expand into areas not yet dominated by Google.

Last year, Microsoft sold $US2.3 billion ($A2.8 billion) in internet advertising, compared to $US4.6 billion ($A5.59 billion) for Yahoo and $US7.3 billion ($A8.88 billion) for Google...rest of article here.....