We Are All Soooo Sick of Yahoo Drama

Dear Yahoo: Just do something already. You're starting to sound like Kim Jong-il rattling his toy sabers.

Today we've got more "news" -- i.e. a Yahoo leak to The Wall Street Journal (which Michael Arrington is hilariously calling "Yahoo's unofficial partner for information leaks") -- that Yahoo could be closer to cutting an advertising deal with Google. This allegedly gives Yahoo an option other than being bought by Microsoft.

Which, uh, it doesn't, unless Yahoo is really willing to sell its soul -- and ensure its eventual doom -- just to stay out of Steve Ballmer's clutches. You hand your search advertising to Google and you essentially belong to the Google camp for good. Google money is like heroin. This is what AOL discovered when it did the same. Now AOL gets so much revenue from Google, it has no other options. If AOL wanted to be bought by Microsoft, for instance, and start using Microsoft search, AOL's revenues would go off a cliff. Yahoo would similarly find itself penned in strategically. All its growth options would also help its chief rival, i.e. Google, grow. What kind of existence is that?

Also, as Arrington points out, the potential market value gain for Yahoo is less than half the premium Microsoft is already offering. How will that sit with Yahoo shareholders?

I'd hate to see Yahoo disappear into Microsoft as much as anybody. Yahoo is one of the great stories from the Web's first generation. But now Yahoo just looks like it's putting off the inevitable. Time to put down the small arms, surrender and move on.

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