STEVE INSKEEP, host: NPR's business news starts with Microsoft and Yahoo. The saga continues.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: After walking away from the negotiating table, Microsoft has gone back. It is not proposing another merger with Yahoo, but Microsoft has approached Yahoo with a plan for a, quote, "alternative transaction." Those are the two words Microsoft used in a statement out yesterday. The proposal could mean a partnership or some kind of joint venture in search-related advertising, according to the New York Times.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The Wall Street Journal says this move appears to be an attempt to stop Yahoo from doing a deal with Google, the company that dominates search engine advertising. And a full merger still is not considered out of the question.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: A big Yahoo shareholder, the billionaire Carl Icahn, is pushing for the two companies to go back into merger talks, and one analyst quoted in an Associated Press report says that Microsoft's decision to walk away from merger talks a couple of weeks ago was a total head fake.
After walking away from a merger offer, Microsoft has proposed a different kind of deal to Yahoo. According to The New York Times, the proposal could mean a partnership or joint venture in online search-related advertising.