Yahoo! Loses Power Play

But if it's business as usual, as Yahoo! suggests, investors may have found a good opportunity to pick up the stock at a slight discount. Yahoo! shares closed Friday down 5%, but have rallied 20% since the beginning of the year as Panama -- Yahoo!'s highly anticipated new system of ranking ads -- has met with stellar reviews, providing many investors with renewed optimism.

A selloff on unfounded rumors would provide investors a chance to buy in on a stock with considerable momentum.

It may be easier to judge the veracity of Friday's developments by turning to AT&T. And there, what's notable is the response by AT&T itself -- and by its shareholders.

After all, a simple denunciation by AT&T of the report is all it would have taken to bail out Yahoo! Instead, AT&T declined to comment on the report, according to The Associated Press.

And even a second press release put out even later on Friday -- bearing all the marks of face-saving cajoling on the part of Yahoo! -- seems to confirm rather than deny the report.

"Great partnerships must continuously work together to adapt to the changing market conditions and changing strategies," the press release quotes AT&T COO Randall Stephenson as saying. "We consider our partnership with Yahoo! a great partnership and want to continue building our complementary skills and expertise."