Yahoo! Shares Rise on Deal Rumors

SAN FRANCISCO -- Shares of Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) were soaring Wednesday on a report that Microsoft(MSFT Quote) might be trying to recruit other suitors to work out a deal that could lead to the breakup of the tech giant.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has been talking to media companies like Time Warner(TWX Quote) and News Corp.(NWS Quote), both of which had previously expressed an interest in Yahoo!.

It is unclear what Microsoft is currently proposing but in the past, the company has suggested that it wants to buy Yahoo!'s search business and combine the remaining assets with another company.

Yahoo! has so far refused to sell the search business to Microsoft but speculation over a revived deal was enough to prop up the stock on Wednesday. Shares of Yahoo! jumped 8%, or $1.62, to $21.82, reversing a recent downward trend. But the price is still far from the $29.98 it reached in February shortly after Microsoft made public its unsolicited bid to take over the company.

Yahoo!'s stock has gotten its only lift in recent days from rumors that it can still work out some sort of a deal with Microsoft and the Journal article is another example of that. Sources told the newspaper, however, that talks between Microsoft and other media companies have been preliminary and are unlikely to result in a deal.

Two weeks ago, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer allegedly called Yahoo! Chairman Roy Bostock to discuss the possibility of involving other media companies in a deal, but then canceled a scheduled meeting to go over the proposal, which Yahoo! interpreted as a sign that Microsoft could not find anyone to get on board, according to the Journal.