• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 6, 2008

Even before the ink has dried on Microsoft's offer letter to Yahoo, tech 'zines and blogs are speculating on how the merger would be organized and who would end up running its most powerful advertising asset: Yahoo. With one leading candidate, Steve Berkowitz, expected to leave Microsoft as part of a related reorganization, attention is focusing on former aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews, and his boss Kevin Johnson, president of platforms and services at Microsoft.

Berkowitz, the one-time head of Ask.com, who has been senior vice president of Microsoft's online services business, including MSN and Windows Live, reportedly is expected to leave as part of a small shakeup in the divisional ranks, according to some buzz on the blogosphere generated by a story first reported in The Wall Street Journal.

According to the chatter, that leaves Johnson and McAndrews leading candidates to oversee Yahoo.

McAndrews, the former CEO of aQuantive until its sale to Microsoft for $6 billion last year, is clearly the most knowledgeable about the advertising marketplace, having helmed one of Madison Avenue's leading digital advertising organizations.

Coming on the heels of its acquisition of aQuantive, a merged Microsoft-Yahoo would be like no other modern digital advertising services organization: Part ad agency (including shops like Avenue A / Razorfish), part ad server (Atlas DMT), a leading in-game advertising network (Massive), the largest online portal in the world (Yahoo-MSN), the second largest search engine business (Yahoo-MSN), and an array of Microsoft's online and offline applications businesses.

The vision has already been paying off, even before the Yahoo deal was announced. On the eve of the public offer, McAndrews delineated the Microsoft division's success, noting, "Our vision is to make buying and selling media simpler, smarter and more cost-effective across media and devices in the Microsoft network of properties and beyond."