• The Wall Street Journal, Friday, April 11, 2008 12:31 PM

Yahoo's board of directors are set to meet today, but won't decide on anything until later next week when they've had a chance to iron out details of what an AOL-Google alternative would look like compared to a Microsoft buyout.

That said, Yahoo sources tell The Journal that a Microsoft takeover is still the most likely outcome. Some Yahoo shareholders are already voicing their opposition to an AOL. They claim Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and the board are the only ones adamant about avoiding a Microsoft takeover.

If the software giant does include News Corp. in a deal, which The Journal says is unlikely, the companies' might divide Yahoo, with Microsoft taking its search and advertising technology and News Corp. taking its online media properties and anything else. That sounds smart: after several failings, it finally looks like Microsoft is realizing that the content business isn't for them: As one source reveals: "All Microsoft cares about is search and the ad engine." Meanwhile, other sources suggest that News Corp. wants in on the deal because it may think that MySpace has peaked, meaning it's time to offload.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »