By Jeremy Kirk
December 1, 2008

Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. had no comment on a report that they're once again in discussions to sell Yahoo's online search business for $20 billion. The Sunday Times of London wrote that Microsoft had agreed to the "broad terms of a deal" but that there was no guarantee that it would be completed.

"We continue to offer no comment on such rumors and speculation," according to a statement supplied a Microsoft spokesperson in London today. A Yahoo spokeswoman also said the company had no comment on the report. The Sunday Times wrote that Microsoft would bring in Jonathan Miller, the former CEO of AOL LLC, and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media Inc., to manage a new team.

Levinsohn, according to a Wall Street Journal blog (subscription required), called the report "fiction." The blog by Kara Swisher also said that high-level sources at Microsoft and Yahoo also scoffed at reports of a potential deal. The Times also wrote that Microsoft seeks a 10-year agreement with Yahoo to run Yahoo's search business. Microsoft would have a two-year call option to buy that business for $20 billion. Yahoo would still run its own e-mail, messaging and content services, the paper wrote.

Microsoft began courting Yahoo earlier this year, offering $44.6 billion in February for the entire company, or around $31 per share. Yahoo's co-founder and then-CEO Jerry Yang held out for a higher offer, but Microsoft eventually lost interest. Yahoo's stock has since quickly fallen, along with the stock of many other technology companies that are feeling the effects of the global credit crunch.