Steve Ballmer may be feeling a bit of bidder's remorse.

Speaking to a group of nearly 2,000 Microsoft enthusiasts at a technology conference in Seattle, the Microsoft CEO asked people to raise their hands to show what search engine they used. The overwhelming majority raised their hands for Google. A few arms went up for Microsoft's Windows Live search. Yahoo, which Microsoft is trying to buy in the hopes of taking on Google in search advertising , received even fewer hands.

Ballmer was incredulous at Yahoo's poor showing.

"Wow! We offered 31 bucks a share," he said, prompting much laughter in the room. Yahoo and Microsoft rank No. 2 and 3 in Web search, respectively.

(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi)

You may have read recently about an Internet phenomenon called “rickrolling ,” which sends unsuspecting Web users to YouTube videos of Rick Astley’s ’80s pop single “Never Gonna Give You Up.” The New York Times wrote up the supposedly hilarious phenomenon on Monday, referencing a prank that purportedly interrupted a women’s basketball game:

“Two men on the sidelines surprised the crowd by blasting the British singer Rick Astley’s 1987 hit song “Never Gonna Give You Up” through the gym, while one, dressed as a look-alike in Mr. Astley’s signature trench coat, lip-synched and mugged to the music: a popular prank known as rickrolling.”

Unfortunately for the Times, it was the paper itself that got rolled. The Times originally reported that the pranksters interrupted the game and bewildered the crowd. Turns out it was just the result of some clever video editing, leading to a correction on Thursday:

An article on Monday about a popular Internet video prank known as rickrolling referred incorrectly to its use during a March 8 women’s basketball game at Eastern Washington University, based on information provided by Pawl Fisher, a student; Davin Perry, who shoots game videos for the university; and Dave Cook, its sports information director. The stunt, which involves a person lip-synching the 1980s hit song “Never Gonna Give You Up” while dressed as the British singer Rick Astley, was performed before the start of four separate basketball games, and the pranksters distilled the performances into a YouTube video. The March 8 game, between Eastern Washington and Montana State, was not interrupted by a performance.

Local TV station KHQ flagged the error, noting: “After confirming the video was a fake, KHQ did not run the story. The New York Times did.”

And what does Mr. Astley himself think about this? The LA Times blog Web Scout managed to track him down.

“Listen, I just think it’s bizarre and funny. My main consideration is that my daughter doesn’t get embarrassed about it,” he said. “If I was a young kid now looking at that song, I’d have to say I’d think it was pretty naff, really.”

(Photo: Amazon.com)

When you're embroiled in an insider trading scandal and have been unfairly labeled a fugitive, who you gonna call?

Warren Buffett!

The Sage of Omaha is set to appear for a second time on the soap opera mainstay "All My Children," coming to the aid of the character Erica Kane.

Buffett will play himself in an episode set to air during the May sweeps, following his first appearance on the show in 1992. Buffett and the creator of "All My Children," Agnes Nixon, are friends, and the investment magnate is a fan of the show, said an "All My Children" spokesman.

Spoiler alert: Kane, played by Susan Lucci, recently pleaded guilty to insider trading -- a crime she unintentionally committed -- but ended up a fugitive when another convict she was handcuffed to escaped en route to prison. Buffett will enter the plot after Erica's capture and imprisonment when he is called upon by their mutual friend, Opal (Jill Larson), to use his influence to try to leverage a deal on Erica's behalf. The outcome, however, is not what Erica had anticipated.

Dun, dun, DUN!

Buffett will be paid union scale salary of roughly $700, bringing his net worth to approximately $62,000,000,700.

Playboy Enterprises may not have a billion dollar skyscraper like the beleaguered brokerage firm Bear Stearns, but it does have the Playboy Mansion, and a steady revenue stream in the form of rent from founder Hugh Hefner.

Playboy’s annual report, released on Friday shows that Hef paid an estimated $700,000 in “rent and other benefits payable” to the company in 2007. The property — described as a “29-room mansion located on five and one-half acres in Los Angeles, California,” with no mention of the Grotto — must have some pretty sweet rent controls: He paid $1.1 million in 2005, and $800,000 in 2006.

As any casual Playboy observer knows, Hef has more than a few roommates. Since 2005, E! has aired “The Girls Next Door,” a reality show that stars three of his live-in girlfriends. More from the 10-K, first highlighted by footnoted.org:

Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson, the stars of The
Girls Next Door on E! Entertainment Television, reside in the mansion with Mr.
Hefner. The value of rent, food and beverage and other personal benefits for the
use of the Playboy Mansion by Ms. Madison, Ms. Marquardt and Ms. Wilkinson is charged to Alta Loma Entertainment, our production company. The aggregate amount of these charges in 2007 was $0.4 million. In addition, each of Ms. Madison, Ms. Marquardt and Ms. Wilkinson receives payments for services rendered on our behalf, including appearance fees.

Oh, and about those rent controls:

The annual rent Mr. Hefner pays to us for his use of the Playboy Mansion is determined by independent experts who appraise the value of Mr. Hefner’s basic accommodations and access to the Playboy Mansion’s facilities. … Mr. Hefner’s usage of Playboy Mansion services and benefits is recorded through a system initially developed by the professional services firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and now administered by us, with appropriate modifications approved by the Audit and Compensation Committees of the Board of Directors.

(Photo: Playboy Mansion, Reuters)

A global media company receives an unsolicited takeover bid with a hefty premium, and rivals scramble to put together a complex alternative offer.

Sound familiar?

Silicon Alley Insider reported last night that News Corp is talking to Yahoo about a deal that would keep the Internet company out of the hands of Microsoft Corp and its $44.6 billion takeover offer. See if you can follow along: The hypothetical transaction would combine Yahoo with MySpace and Rupert Murdoch's other digital assets, along with a cash infusion from private equity and the outsourcing of search to Google.

Flashback to June: Pearson, General Electric, Hearst Corp, and yes, even Microsoft, all discuss ways to mix and match their various financial news assets to counter News Corp's knock-out bid for Dow Jones. And we all know how that one ended.

Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal (and thus a News Corp employee) tackles the question with a bit of faux Q&A and a nod to the classic TV show "Kung Fu":

Q: What about Yahoo's alternatives to Microsoft? I thought they were talking about linking up with AOL yesterday? Now today, it's News Corp. Didn't both those companies publicly say last week that they were uninterested in making a bid?

A: Grasshopper, when you can snatch the pebble from the hand of the leaky investment banker, it will be time for you to leave.

Yahoo and Microsoft aren't about to let their high-profile takeover battle get in the way of other, smaller deals. Microsoft announced a deal to buy mobile software company Danger on Monday for an undisclosed sum, and Yahoo said on Tuesday it has acquired video hosting firm Maven Networks for $160 million.

The rationale behind Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo -- to compete more effectively against Google -- can be seen in both deals.

Microsoft said the Danger acquisition was crucial to its success to win consumers over to its brand of mobile Internet, at a time when Google is preparing to launch its mobile software platform, Android. Danger was co-founded by Andy Rubin, who is now running Android for Google.

Similarly Maven, which hosts and syndicates ads and video for media companies, could help Yahoo convince those companies to use its own platform rather than build their own or support rivals Google and Microsoft.

PE Hub's Dan Primack adds more about the Yahoo-Maven deal:

Yahoo originally signed its letter of intent for Maven last November, and news first leaked out two weeks ago via blogs TechCrunch and NewTeeVee. Less than 24 hours later, however, Microsoft unveiled its hostile takeover attempt for Yahoo, and speculation ran rampant that the Maven deal was stalled. Apologies for lending my voice to that, as I'm now told that February 11 was always the close date, and it finished up as scheduled.

This sale is a big win for Maven's venture capital backers - General Catalyst Partners, Accel Partners and Prism VentureWorks -- which had invested around $24 million. The most recent round was a $12 million Series C round in mid-2006, at a pre-money valuation of just $30 million. It's particularly good for GC, which originally invested in 2003 at a $7.5 million pre-money. And GC could really use it, because it's also pumped a ton of money into Maven competitor Brightcove - including a recent round at around a $210 million post.

AOL is still in the game.

The media world’s attention may be focused on Microsoft-Yahoo, and conventional wisdom is that Time Warner will probably spin or sell off part or all of the company, but AOL announced yet another small but not insignificant acquisition on Tuesday.

Buy.at, a network in which advertisers pay Web publishers when a visitor takes an action in response to an ad, is AOL’s fifth acquisition in the last 12 months. Other recent AOL purchases include online Q&A provider Yedda and advertising technology firm Quigo . The latter deal was worth about $340 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, and AOL CEO Randy Falco told Reuters that Quigo was “the last big piece” he needed.

On the eve of Time Warner’s first-quarter results, when new CEO Jeffrey Bewkes is expected to discuss restructuring plans, investors will soon find out what the future holds for AOL. His decision will determine whether AOL is ready to stand alone once more, or if a few more pieces are needed first.

"This is a strategic offer by a cash rich company going through menopause and looking to blossom in its next phase of life."
-- Herb Greenberg, MarketWatch

"Here's the ironic part: The 2 most visible losers in the search area may be getting together -- and somehow, that's worth 150 point swing to the Dow futures."
-- Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture

"For Yahoo shareholders, the message is clear: Take the money and run. The message is also clear for Microsoft shareholders: The onus remains on Redmond to sell, sell, sell its case. This has the feel of AOL/Time Warner 2.0 until proven otherwise."
-- Dennis Berman, Deal Journal

"Given the plunge in Yahoo stock and the prospect of a damaging recession this year, if now isn't the right time, it's hard to imagine what is."
-- Colin Barr, Fortune Daily Briefing

"We all knew this was coming. Yahoo! was cheap. Too cheap. And a mess. Rats were leaving the sinking ship en masse. It was not sustainable. Something had to happen."
-- Fred Wilson,A VC

"With it's I-shall-have-it bid for the troubled Internet giant, Microsoft has made a bold, slightly insane lunge to ensure that it is not sidelined in war with Google to control the Internet. You have to guess the phones were ringing at Google HQ this morning, as other companies-from News Corp. to eBay to Comcast are trying to figure out how to make a competing bid to the $31-per-share offer Microsoft lobbed today. The obvious scenario: That Google would guarantee billions of dollars of revenues from search monetization for another company, so it could enter the race to grab one of the most trafficked sites on the Web."
-- Kara Swisher, Boomtown

"It's a shotgun wedding, and Google's holding the shotgun."
-- Bryan Stolle, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures

"In general, cross-organizational cooperation has not been a strength of Microsoft, but with barbarians like Google at the gate, it might be time to break down some silos."
-- Forrester's Rob Koplowitz and Kyle McNabb

How is Steve Ballmer like a White House contender? In the heat of the presidential primary season, it seems Microsoft has taken a few lessons from Clinton, Obama, McCain and Romney: Draw a contrast with your opponent and explain how you will prevail, but don't mention them by name if you can help it.

You'll never find the word "Google" in Microsoft's press release or its letter to the Yahoo board, but the search engine and online advertising giant is implicitly ubiquitous:

• "Today this market is increasingly dominated by one player. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a competitive choice while better fulfilling the needs of customers and partners."
• "The industry will be well served by having more than one strong player." [Admitting there is only one now? Ouch.]
• "Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers."

Not that naming or not naming Google will make much difference. In a highly unscientific poll based on a leading news search engine (ok, it was Google News), roughly 80 percent of coverage about the Microsoft-Yahoo offer mentioned Google in the first sentence.

Yahoo didn't even have the Microsoft bid on its front page until about 10:00 am EST, some three hours after the news broke. Even then it was buried about 11 headlines below the story that Yahoo considered the most important of the day: "How scratching brings relief."

UPDATE: Ballmer's internal email to Microsoft employees, obtained by TechCrunch, doesn't mention Google either, but states: "Together, we'll create a company that is in a much better position to compete against an increasingly dominant player in this market"

Microsoft has made its long-rumored takeover approach to Yahoo, in a proposed cash and stock deal worth $44.6 billion. The $31 per share offer represents a 62 percent premium to Yahoo's closing stock price -- but is almost exactly equal to its stock price back in May, when a potential tie-up was leaked to the press. The elephant in the boardroom for this deal is, of course, Google. As Microsoft stated in its letter to Yahoo: "Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition." The letter also said that Yahoo rejected an acquisition last February, and noted: "A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved."

China has muscled in on BHP Billiton's attempts to buy rival Rio Tinto, with its biggest aluminum producer teaming up with U.S. group Alcoa to buy a 12 percent stake in Rio. Friday's $14 billion swoop by Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) comes days before a regulatory deadline next Wednesday for BHP to make a firm offer for Rio or to walk away.

Societe Generale was studying bid defense options on Friday as a newspaper said Credit Agricole, France's third-largest bank by value but the biggest in terms of retail branches, had hired Lazard and its own investment bank to study a bid. Top French bank BNP Paribas has already confirmed it will consider bidding for SocGen in the wake of a massive rogue trading scandal.