• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 2, 2008

With Microsoft's takeover deadline looming, Yahoo reportedly is close to announce a deal to begin carrying search ads from another long-time rival: Google. News of the pending agreement, first reported Thursday by the online edition of The Wall Street Journal, is the latest chapter in an online industry soap opera that began in February when Microsoft shocked the business world with a record-setting $44.6 billion takeover offer.

While Yahoo's board has repeatedly rebuffed the offer, executives of the two companies reportedly have been meeting to determine if Microsoft might up the ante and sweeten the deal over its original $31-a-sahre-offer by a dollar or two, though that still might not be enough to sway the Yahoo board, which remains fiercely independent.

On Thursday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reportedly told employees that while a merger with Yahoo would bolster the company's online market position, it would not overpay for the online portal, and was prepared to grow its market share without it.

"If the Yahoo deal doesn't happen, we know that there is a different set of things that we'll wind up investing in," Ballmer said, according to comments first reported by tech industry blog Silicon Alley Insider.

Yahoo, meanwhile, appears to be close to aligning with Google.

"While a broad search-ad pact would likely attract intense antitrust scrutiny, the options Google and Yahoo are discussing include a nonexclusive arrangement that they believe could satisfy regulators, say the people familiar with the matter," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Analysts estimated that a deal outsourcing Yahoo's search advertising business to Google would improve Yahoo's cash flow by more than $1 billion a year.