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.