When does “no” actually mean “no”?

When does “no” mean “yes”?

As has been widely reported, the folk at Yahoo! are less than keen on being swallowed by Microsoft. This isn’t stopping Microsoft from pushing on with their attempts to buy their rival.

Where is this leading? It seems that the two companies will just continue losing ground to the Big G while they thrash out the details of a potential takeover. Microsoft apparently feels that it is being more than generous and that Yahoo!’s shareholders are not being provided with all the necessary information to make an informed decision. The money men at Yahoo! disagree.

I fear that the nature of this takeover could lead to the companies falling further behind Google in search. Yahoo! is already a company in the process of absorbing acquisitions and any potential tie in with Microsoft would leave the company in a hugely unsettled condition. If the takeover happens in bad blood, surely this will just slow the process further.

It’s hard to imagine that Yahoo! will be able to resist Microsoft’s advances for much longer. We are all well aware of how ruthless the Seattle company are when they want something and they are, after all, phenomenally wealthy in a way that Yahoo! are not.

The world watches…