Overture Jumps as Yahoo! Grabs Cash

Is Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) making an overture for Overture Services (OVER Quote)?

That's the burning question Friday morning, following Yahoo!'s late-night announcement Thursday that it had priced $750 million in convertible bonds.

The Internet media and services company, which has $1.5 billion in cash on hand and generated $221 million in free cash flow in 2002, wouldn't appear to require more cash unless it were about to make a major acquisition.

And that scenario has led some to speculate that the likeliest suspect for Yahoo! to acquire is Overture, the fast-growing paid search company. ...