Ah... the New York Post... an authoritative source... it figures...

Jerry: You should pick a more subtle ID.

Well, the bid has pretty much accomplished its goal already (from WSJ)...

Stock Sales At Google Send Shivers

"Jonathan Moreland research director at InsiderInsights.com and subadviser to Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management is now recommending that Google shares be sold short in the face of continued insider selling"... The article continues "Mr Moreland said the nearly constant selling of shares by insiders of the Mountain View, Calif., Internet giant, along with the utter lack of open-market purchases, had always bothered him" and goes on to quote Mr. Moreland,"So many of these insiders have been so anxious to sell or exercise their options, and so unwilling to hold much of anything long, and that's a particular red flag"... Moreland describes how much he has made to date shorting the stock and concludes with,"I thank insiders very much for showing their extreme lack of confidence"

This isn't really raising the bid; it's making up for the decline of the stock portion of it.

even with their recent layoffs, yao may be about to implode under its own weight. Recall that about half of their ad revenue is of the graphical/brand/CPM sort. Recall also that in an economic downturn it is this type of advertising that is more likely to be cut, because the advertiser bears far more risk...thus the 2001 collapse. The market came back but it was CPC/adwords that brought it back. So, I think yahoo! Is about to get slammed much harder than google. Give it time, Mr.Balmer. Time is on your side.