Yahoo may have played a blinder by tying up with Google and hinting at a deal with AOL, but Wall Street still thinks Microsoft will win the takeover battle.

Yahoo announced earlier in the week that it was planning to trial an advertisement sharing scheme with Google, which sent analysts into a spin predicting a possible three way alliance with AOL.

Hours later, Microsoft trumped the announcement with the New York Times reporting that MySpace owner News Corp was in talks to join Microsoft’s bid for the web company. “Everyone is just exploring. The best option is to accept the Microsoft deal. I just see Yahoo as a mature brand and AOL as declining brand” says fund manager Mike Binger at Thrivent Financial, which owns small stakes in Yahoo and Microsoft.

Source: [1] PC Pro

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