Yahoo to MS: Buy us or we'll go with Google

That's right, it seems as though Mr. Carl Icahn's pressure-play on Yang-and-Board has worked; Yahoo! now seems to be willing to hear all offers. Moreover, it appears as though that Yahoo! will make one deal or another and, funny enough, the pressure now seems to be on Microsoft to close the deal or risk losing-out on any possible relationship with its target.

Microsoft's initial bid at $31 was quickly sweetened to $33 per share before being withdrawn in spectacular fashion a few weeks ago. The media, including lowly bloggers such as yours truly, have been talking about it (and scratching their heads) ever since. The deal seemed to be a smart move for everyone involved and the price seemed to be good enough to have all the major shareholders nodding up-and-down like mad. Much of the reason for the failure of the deal the first time around has been credited to the egos of the co-founders at Yahoo including Jerry Yang, it's current CEO. With pressure building from the likes of Carl Icahn, the activist investor, have shed such a big spot light on the deal that it seems as though Yahoo!'s Board has been left with no other option that look for any deal that will get them off their backs.

Microsoft re-approached Yahoo! shortly after the failure of the buyout offer with a complex partnership proposal that would see them working together on advertising - this came quickly after news surfaced that Google was working with Yahoo! on a very similar deal. It now seems that Yahoo! prefers the partnership proposal offered by Google, but would ultimately seek a satisfactory buyout offer from Microsoft. At the end of the day, Microsoft may get what it always wanted in the form of an acquisition, but it seems to be that if their next attempt doesn't work, they won't have another bite at the apple.

Google Isn't Done with Yahoo! Just Yet.

As much as Microsoft would like this saga to end, I don't think that there's anyone who believes that we're anywhere near the last chapter in this story. While Microsoft has re initiated discussions with Yahoo! in hopes of forming some kind of partnership after the failure of its initial buyout bid, Google is holding strong on its own deal with Yahoo!. With as much as $1 billion on the table for Yahoo!, it may be difficult to exclude Google's proposed advertising collaboration from the picture.

Not surprisingly, of course, antitrust concerns have surfaced with talk of the possibility that the two largest online advertising giants could unite, but Google is adamant that it can work out a model that would not threaten the competitive landscape. To their credit, there is a fair bit of precedent on which to lean on. Canon, for example, supplies 80% of the laser printer market ...including its #1 competitor Hewlett-Packard or Toyota selling its hybrid technology to its competition. Similarly, Google foresees a partnership that would leave Yahoo! independent, but allow it to leverage its superior advertising technology and broader advertiser base to help its bottom line.

With Yahoo!'s board announcing that it has postponed its annual meeting once again, there's no doubt that Jerry Yang, its CEO, have a lot to consider. The likes of Carl Icahn and Boone Pickens, with 10 million shares each and calling for a new board, aren't making things any easier for them either. From an outsider's (and investor's) perspective, however, it's hard to see how Yahoo! will not win in the end regardless of the outcome. Is this not the time to buy?

Search Engine with No Website Gets ANOTHER $3 Million

No website (or logo, as a matter of fact), but that hasn't stopped all the original investors in Blekko from putting-up yet another $3 million dollars for the would-be challeger to Google. By all accounts, Rich Skrenta, is very media savvy and isn't giving-up any details about their technology beyond criticizing Google's invention of Page Rank and confirmation that they aren't following suit.

With backing from the likes of former Google executives, Netscape's Marc Andreesen as well as Venture Capital firms of the like of Baseline Ventures, SoftTech VC and Western Technology Investments, they must have something pretty good up their sleeves. Except for SoftTech and Western Technology Investments, everyone investing in this round also invested in their seed round that raised $2 million for the 6-person team working out of their garage in true-start-up style!

They aren't alone, of course, with many other challengers to Google waiting in the wings to reveal their secret sauce. The only notable thing about this story, really, is Skrenta's ability to apparently convince sophisticated investors that he's got something worthwhile. Maybe more than that, his ability to get folks like me to write about it without having anything to actually look at until their expected launch sometime in 2009. Any who said an idea, unto itself, isn't worth anything?