Yahoo! Reportedly Getting Closer to Google Deal (Silverlight)

The Google strategy, which could potentially be worth a billion dollars a year to Yahoo! but is sure to catch antitrust flak, is part of a tripartite deal that would have Yahoo! merge with AOL and AOL’s owner Time Warner take a 20% stake in the combined company for some cash to fend off Yahoo!’s unwanted acquisition by Microsoft.

Then the idea would be for Yahoo! to use Time Warner’s money to buy back a few billion dollars worth of stock for somewhere between $30 and $40 a share to pacify investors watching Microsoft and its money walk out the door, which could crush Yahoo’s stock.

Anyway, the Journal now says Google and Yahoo! are trying to figure out how to avoid being blocked by regulators and could limit their ties to specific kinds of search queries or regions.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has other ideas and has hired a Washington lobbyist, Bryan Cave Strategies, to ensure that its acquisition of Yahoo! passes the regulatory gauntlet.