Financial analysts are weighing in on the Microsoft-Yahoo-Google saga, following the announcement of terminated talks between Microsoft and Yahoo, and the confirmation of a Yahoo-Google search partnership. Bloomberg News says the outcome is good for both Microsoft and Google shareholders: Microsoft shareholders never really wanted to acquire Yahoo in the first place, while Google shareholders are seeing their company add a huge search partner, while pretty much solidifying their dominance in search advertising. It's a whole different story for Yahoo shareholders, who this morning have seen the company's stock price fall to about $22 per share (Microsoft's offered $34 per …

Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget is all but convinced that Carl Icahn will lose his proxy battle (and hundreds of millions of dollars) against Yahoo. Aside from the fact that the billionaire investor has no real plan other than to sell the Web giant to a company that no longer wants it, Blodget points out that things have changed for Microsoft since it lodged a $45 billion takeover bid for Yahoo in early February. For starters, it's lost interest in the deal, possibly due to shareholder and internal pressure, but the market for online display ads has also deteriorated …

In slashing the price for the new 3G iPhone, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made it clear that he's serious about bringing the next generation device to the mainstream. "Everyone wants an iPhone," Jobs noted at the 3G iPhone's unveiling. "But we need to make it more affordable." Apple thinks the lower price will attract more consumers, while the faster mobile Web speeds will attract more corporate customers. To spur innovation, the company also opened up the handset's platform to third party software makers. Of course, BusinessWeek reminds us that Apple has huge mountain to climb in the form of Research …

Following the surprising departure of CEO Susan Lyne, former Yahoo Wenda Harris Millard was promoted to co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. In an interview with PaidContent.org, Millard says she's ready for the challenge. "(Co-CEO) Robin (Marino) and I have been working together for three years," Millard said. "When she joined the company, I was already on the board, then I joined (from Yahoo) to work here a year ago and our roles were distinct: me on media, she on merchandise. Our new positions...bring the merchandising and media segments closer together and even could allow each side to leverage the …

Yahoo's executive exodus continues: The Los Angeles Times is reporting the departure of Jeff Weiner, the executive vice president of the company's network division, who leaves Yahoo to split his time between two venture capital firms, according to an unnamed source. The blogosphere had been abuzz with rumors of Weiner's departure since his return from paternity leave. The Times says the loss of Weiner is a "major blow," because "he was not only a senior manager but one of those leaders who embody the soul of the company." Weiner ran the search and marketplace businesses and recently took charge …

In an interview with New Yorker magazine, Google CEO Eric Schmidt waxed philosophical about his company's much-maligned "Don't be Evil" motto, saying the maxim is meant to inspire debate about corporate responsibility, rather than being an absolute moral position. "We don't have an 'Evilmeter' we can sort of apply -- you know -- what is good and what is evil," he said, adding "The goal of the company is not to monetize everything, the goal is to change the world ... We don't start from monetization. We start from the perspective of what problems do we have." Schmidt also talked …