Sun Valley Diary: The Microsoft-Yahoo Guessing Game - Mergers, Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds -- DealBook - New York Times

"The early verdict? The consensus emerging is that investors may be prepared to take even less than the $33 originally proposed by Microsoft, with some whispering that they might even accept as little as $31.50. And the feeling is that Mr. Icahn would likely to willing to accept. “He just needs a number that starts with a three,” one mogul said of Mr. Icahn, who paid about $25 a share for Yahoo.
But there’s a catch: Everyone seems to agree that Carl Icahn will have a hard time overthrowing Yahoo’s board without a firm commitment from Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer about the price he is willing to pay. “Steve is just toying with Jerry,” one participant said of Mr. Ballmer’s statement on Monday suggesting he would be interested in negotiating a deal – either to buy the entire company or to buy its search business — with a new Icahn-backed board. “It’s a no-lose. He’s creating optionality for himself.”"

Yahoo! re-enters merger talks with Time Warner

Yahoo! re-enters merger talks with Time Warner

Times Online, UK - 8 hours agoThe company has sought to re-open talks after it emerged last week that Microsoft is also in talks with companies such as Time Warner to try to launch a