• GigaOm, Friday, June 22, 2007 11:45 AM

They say any publicity is good publicity, and Yahoo is getting its fair share. Of course, the portrait of Yahoo's CEO switch as a temporary band-aid prior to a sale or merger isn't necessarily good publicity (except maybe for shareholders). Neither is the revelation that next quarter will likely be disappointing. If nothing changes by say, 2008, then one of a few takeovers become possibilities.

Private-equity firms have shown they like an Internet fix-'em-upper, DoubleClick being the most famous example, and at 7-1 odds, Ka group of private investors would have their hands full dealing with Yahoo's corporate culture and structure. More likely (5-1 odds), is that Yahoo could be scooped up by a big telecom/ISP, like AT&T or Comcast, the former being more likely due to its ties with Yahoo. Both content distributors have a desire to move into the media business.

The most likely scenario is a Microsoft takeover at 4-1 odds. The combined Web giants (MSN and Yahoo) would create an instant threat to Google, though neither Web company quite knows where it's headed. As for the report that News Corp. could offer MySpace in exchange for 25% to 30% percent of Yahoo, it's a 20-1 long shot.

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