• D: All Things Digital, Tuesday, June 24, 2008 12:16 PM

The feeling persists that Microsoft is still hovering in the wings with some fabulously clever ploy to grab Yahoo once the time is right, once Yahoo's current bumbling management is swept aside, once Yahoo's stock once again falls below the $20 per share mark that prompted its last foray.

Yesterday, it was some apparently mistranslated words from a German story coming from Microsoft's Kevin Johnson-the head of its Platforms & Services unit who has been one of the main execs driving the Yahoo bid-about the company ready to make a new one if management changes. This kind of thing has happened a lot since Microsoft walked away from its takeover bid for Yahoo in May, put off by months of rejection from the Internet portal and smarting from Yahoo's flirtation with archrival Google (worries that turned out to be totally worth the worry, in fact).

But, even though Yahoo's stock price is nearing that scary mark, as near as BoomTown can tell Microsoft does not have a plan to buy Yahoo at the ready. AOL...now that's a different story. Kara Swisher writes: "While I realize a purchase of AOL, which Microsoft has noodled on before and is clearly noodling on now, seems like a band-aid approach to the situation and does not up its search share, the company probably needs to make a very bold and definitive move to begin its long slog to becoming the #2 player in the online ad market. Because as Yahoo dithers its way and tries to recover from the management crisis it is in, Microsoft does, in fact, have the clear opportunity to become the second most important player in online advertising."

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