Last week, billionaire Carl Icahn announced that he was initiating a proxy fight in a bid to replace Yahoo!’s board of directors. It may have been enough to trigger new discussions between Yahoo! and Microsoft after the recent takeover bid fell through.
Rather than an acquisition by Microsoft, the new discussions appear to be focused on a partnership focused on search advertising. Another option would see Microsoft buying Yahoo!’s search and search-advertising business, but leaving the rest of Yahoo! operating independently.
Yahoo! is apparently also in discussions with Google. And Microsoft has not ruled out making another bid for Yahoo! in the future.