Is Microsoft gunning for Yahoo again?

Computerworld - The will-they-or-won't-they questions are heating up again.

For weeks now, the blogosphere has been awash with speculation that Microsoft may make a new play to acquire Yahoo, which has seen significant upheaval since the firing of CEO Carol Bartz early last month.

The Wall Street Journal reported early Thursday that Microsoft execs are discussing a Yahoo acquisition. Citing unnamed sources, the Journal reported that Microsoft is working with Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm, to put together a bid for Yahoo.

Silver Lake Partners., a tech investor, has bought stakes in Skype, Seagate Technology and Avaya.

The newspaper reported that the deal being considered would include funding from banks and Silver Lake, along with a major investment from Microsoft.

After the report, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang said during a conference in Hong Kong that the company isn't up for sale.

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Ballmer feels lucky Microsoft didn't buy Yahoo in 2008

DG News Service - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer feels intensely fortunate that his company's US$44 billion bid for Yahoo back in 2008 never materialized.

"Sometimes you're lucky," he said with a smile at Web 2.0 Summit, responding to a question from conference co-chair John Battelle.

Careful not to offend his search market partner, Ballmer put his comment in context, saying that any CEO would feel grateful for not making a major acquisition in the months prior to the global financial collapse that started in the second half of 2008.

"We would have been closing [the Yahoo deal right after] Lehman Brothers," Ballmer said, referring to the historical collapse of one of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. Microsoft made its offer for Yahoo in early 2008 and withdrew it several months later.

Of course, Yahoo has continued to struggle since 2008, when Microsoft made its acquisition bid, and this year Yahoo's fortunes have taken a more steep downturn. CEO Carol Bartz was fired last month, and this week the company announced that CTO Raymie Stata has been replaced, as the company struggles to emerge from years-long financial and technology funk.

Although Ballmer made a point of saying that "there are a lot of great things about Yahoo" and that he's very satisfied with Yahoo as a search partner, it's clear that Yahoo would be worth much less than what Microsoft offered for it in 2008.

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Yahoo's Top Searches of 2010

America's obsession with celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga will never go away, but at least this year we made room for more pressing matters, like the BP oil spill, according to Yahoo's year-end search review.

Every winter, Yahoo tugs on our sleeve and hands over a list of the year's hottest searches. Even though Yahoo isn't at the top of the search game -- by some measurements it's behind Bing as well as Google - the results tend to be more culture and news-oriented than Google's yearly Zeitgeist results, which aren't available for 2010 yet.

Here's a look at the hottest searches in 2010, according to Yahoo, plus a list of the most searched-for gadgets:

1. BP Oil Spill: Not only was this a major, drawn-out story, but it had a generally agreed-upon search term and a "spill cam" to keep people coming back.

2. World Cup: A huge event that also spurred interest in South African culture and, of course, the dreaded vuvuzela. Searches related to the Olympics weren't nearly as popular.

3. Miley Cyrus: As the Disney-backed pop star entered adulthood, fans were curious to see how she'd make the transition, explains Vera Chan, senior editor and Web trend analyst for Yahoo.

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