As my fellow blogger Celia might say, the course of true love never did run smooth and Microsoft’s ego must be feeling a little battered by now to say the least. The software giant has now chosen to propose an alternative deal to Yahoo! which stops short of a full takeover.

Earlier on in the year, the Yahoo! board of directors rejected an offer by Microsoft, leading to widespread speculation that an aggressive takeover might be on the cards. However, instead of encouraging shareholders to oust the search engine’s bosses, the firm seemed to suddenly lose interest.

Now, however, Microsoft has once again opened itself up to Yahoo! rejection – what is it about this search engine that makes it so attractive to them? Could it be its obsession with outpacing Google as a search provider on a more global scale?

Yahoo! is giving nothing away. It issued a prim statement, noting: “Yahoo!’s board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximising stockholder value.”

So Microsoft should not expect any favours.

However, I think that if Microsoft increases its influence over Yahoo!, it will not be too long before it buys it outright. I think this would be a shame, though, as having a variety of search engines is good for the consumer, good for innovation and drives up standards within the search engine optimisation sector.

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