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Microsoft (MSFT) released a statement on Sunday that it has made an alternative offer to Yahoo (YHOO) that wouldn’t entail a full acquisition. In the unexpected move, Microsoft would be acting as something of a white knight, saving Yahoo from fighting a proxy battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions.”

Although Microsoft isn’t making a new bid to buy Yahoo, the Redmond giant “reserves the right to reconsider that alternative” depending on discussions with Yahoo, shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft, or other third parties.

Icahn on Thursday named an alternative board to replace Yahoo’s board with directors to reopen talks with Microsoft. In inimitable Icahn style, he claimed Yahoo had “acted irrationally” in refusing Microsoft’s $47.5 billion (24.3 billion pound) bid.

Reuters reported that Microsoft had not held discussions with Icahn about Yahoo.

The exact nature of the deal has not been revealed by either party.

Windows Live Search has added a News component, according to a report by CNet’s News.com blog. A meme tracker design has been employed for the front page of the news section. (If you don’t know what a meme tracker is, check out Techmeme.com or Megite.com).

Also on the front page is a search box and an aggregate of local news in a sidebar to the right. Scroll down just below the fold and you’ll find a row of news videos from mainstream media sites such as USA Today, AP Video, Reuters Video and Fox News.

When conducting a search, the results page loses its meme tracker feel. There’s a listing of headlines with the first paragraphs of the stories. Thumbnail photos with stories accompany the articles in the listings.

On the sidebar of search results are options to refine the search geographically or conduct recommended related searches.

Like Google news, there are no ads on either the home page or search results page.

There’s no official word yet from the Live Search blog. The feature comes a week after the release of updates to Live Search Maps and Virtual Earth 3D.

Ask.com will stop trying to compete directly with Google as a mainstream search engine, and will instead focus on targeting niches where it feels it can prosper, based on the way users are searching with Ask.com now. Reports from Reuters and the Wall Street Journal quote new CEO Jim Safka saying “We are reorienting the company around where we can grow,” and “If we can do a better job of understanding who these customers are and answering their questions, we will grow.”

Safka took over as CEO in January, edging out popular Ask.com boss Jim Lanzone.

A total of 40 layoffs were made, across multiple departments. That 8-percent cut was designed to eliminate several areas of overlap, including some competing technologies, Safka told the WSJ. He also told the WSJ that one core audience Ask.com would focus on might be women over 30, asking questions about entertainment and health topics. Building out products for that group might include more community-generated answers.

Late last week, rumors were flying that Ask.com would get rid of its Teoma search algorithm and outsource search to Google. An Ask.com spokesperson told SEW at the time those rumors were “just plain false,” adding that “There are no plans to ‘pull the plug’ on Teoma, our core search engine technology.”

UPDATE: Gary Price, director of online information resources, evangelist of Ask.com, friend to librarians, former SEW news editor, and all-around great guy, was one of the 40 employees laid off today, he announced on his ResourceShelf blog. “Earlier this afternoon I learned that Ask.com is taking the company in a new and different direction and I will not be a part of it,” he writes. “It’s time to move forward and on to another full time job. Where it will be and what I will do is TBD but I am looking forward to seeing what’s out there and where I might be able to contribute.”

I’ve no doubt Gary will land on his feet, but we wish him the best of luck just the same. With the exit of Price, and the news that Jim Lanzone will be gone by August, Ask.com has most definitely moved away from “the little engine that could,” with lots of personality, to just another IAC site in Barry Diller’s empire. It’s a sad day for Ask.com, and a sad day for searchers.

Google’s Tim Armstrong, president North American advertising and commerce, and Penry Price, vice-president of North American sales, with Digitas Chairman and CEO David Kenny will lead the global Google-Publicis partnership.
Abby Klaasen broke the news late last night in Advertising Age. The news tops off a terrific week for Digitas, which won the P&G Crest [...]

Google’s Tim Armstrong, president North American advertising and commerce, and Penry Price, vice-president of North American sales, with Digitas Chairman and CEO David Kenny will lead the global Google-Publicis partnership.

Abby Klaasen broke the news late last night in Advertising Age. The news tops off a terrific week for Digitas, which won the P&G Crest digital account. Crest is P&G’s second biggest spending brand online. Should be interesting to see what products Google engineers can build to help digital agencies scale their business.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Google Publicis partnership elicited a scathing exchange between WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell and Publicis CEO Maurice Levy. (Google CEO Eric Schmidt was, in effect, switzerland.)

Nikki Sandison of Brand Republic reported the barbs traded by Sorrell and Levy this weekend. Sir Martin Sorrell told Reuters:

“Next time I meet with Eric Schmidt, I think we’ll send out a press release. This morning I met with Maurice Levy, does this mean we’re putting together a joint venture?

“What Publicis is doing represents a little bit of a concern that they didn’t get the technology right. I think Maurice is acknowledging a bit of an Achilles heel when it comes to technology.”

No comment from CEO-engineer Eric Schmidt, but technologist/engineer CEO Maurice Levy didn’t take the slight lightly, telling Reuters:

“I’m sorry Martin said that — it’s really cheap, but it’s probably the result of his lack of understanding of technology.

“He’s a financier, I’m an engineer, and you can see the difference. I’m pleased with what we have done, and I’m sorry that my dear friend has not understood it.”

With “dear friends” like that, who needs frenemies?

Google CEO Eric Schmidt was in Paris this week to visit Maurice Levy, chairman and CEO of ad agency holding company Publicis. The two shared few details, but said that Google and Publicis were more than a year into a relationship where Google’s technology smarts and Publicis’ media planning expertise are being shared to the [...]

Paul Allen, Microsoft cofounder, has registered to bid in the upcoming auction for the 700-megahertz spectrum scheduled for January 24, 2008. This is the same auction that Google has shown much interest in developing.
“Allen heads an investment company called Vulcan Capital and is also a majority shareholder in U.S. cable operator Charter Communications,” Reuters reported.

More: [...]

Yahoo wants to beef up its leading Finance site with videos, and will add CNBC content to the mix.

On the Internet, Yahoo Finance has been tops among financial websites. The site will provide a boost to cable channel CNBC, last seen chastising Yahoo over its Cyber Monday outage.
Doug McIntyre said at BloggingStocks the addition of [...]

There are around 5,600 Web sites around the globe dedicated to spreading al Qaeda’s message with 900 more popping up each year according to a Saudi researcher.

"Research shows there are more than 5,600 sites on the Internet promoting the ideology of al Qaeda," Khaled al-Faram told the Information Technology and National Security conference in the [...]

The broadening growth of Fox Interactive Media’s many properties has prompted News Corp to prepare FIM Serve, an online ad network, for deployment in and out of the company’s Internet reach.As those who have followed the saga of Google bidding $3.1 million to acquire DoubleClick know, Google has billed the deal as one that brings [...]