Yahoo shares RISE above Microsoft's lower offer price

Yahoo share prices crept up to $29.04 which is slightly more than what Microsoft would be offering per share through its combined offer of shares and cash, which is worth $28.80 at the time of writing.

The Register rightly underlines that it would be better for shareholders to sell their shares on the open market than go Microsoft's way, especially if the Software giants' shares tank in the short run.

Other parties, including Google and even Baidu, are reportedly interested in bidding for Yahoo, although none have came forward with a definitive offer.

Although Yahoo has clearly stated that it would like to go alone in a three-player search advertising market, an alliance or a partnership with Google à la Myspace might actually be a better solution for the ailing giant.

UBS analysts also acknowledge that Microsoft will have to up the ante and push the offer for Yahoo even further to around $34, which would value Yahoo at $49 billion.

The fight for Yahoo's control however is far from being over as regulators will have their say over whether a Yahoo acquisition might be detrimental to other smaller competitors like Ask.com or AOL.