What’s Yahoo going to do, with a $44.6 billion offer on the table from Microsoft? Play hard to get, The Wall Street Journal says.

In an article today, the newspaper points out that the best way for Yahoo to get a sweetened offer from Microsoft — perhaps as much as $34.08 per share, the Web company’s 52-week high — is to “resort to some big-deal brinkmanship, where threats, rumors and public pressure are all designed to force a buyer’s hand.”

Microsoft, which may borrow money for the first time to finance the deal,  says it expects Yahoo’s board to agree to the buyout quickly.

Yahoo, however, appears to be following the “hard to get” strategy, having said over the weekend that it expects to take some time to weigh its options. What’s more, a source familiar with Yahoo’s strategy said it is considering a business alliance with Google to fend off Microsoft.

But any alliance between Google and Yahoo risks raising the ire of antitrust authorities.  One alternative that Yahoo and Google appear ready to consider is to revive an old arrangement where Yahoo relied on Google to power Web searches on its site. Even with that sort of arrangement, regulators would still have the option to stop a partnership.

Keep an eye on:

• Three global record companies have launched legal proceedings against China’s top Internet search engine Baidu.com Inc, accusing it of violating copyright by giving access to music files. (Reuters )
• Rupert Murdoch is not concerned about the weak ratings for — and in fact says he is very confident about — the Fox Business Network. (TV Newser)
• Murdoch can certainly cheer results from Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast on Fox, which drew the second-largest American TV audience in history (Reuters).