The media has been stirred into a frenzy over the past week since Microsoft launched its bid for Yahoo! and news stories have been dominated with speculation over the future direction of both companies and regular updates on the progress of the bid, although this story will run for months yet!

The New York Times reports on Google's likely opposition to the move, in return for Microsoft's action to stall their takeover of DoubleClick last year. Google clearly has big concerns about the move and the additional market reach and technological power this could give to their main rival, whereas Yahoo! could also try to avoid the takeover by looking for alternative suitors, or as reported by MarketWatch, outsourcing its search advertising service to Google. However, this would probably be a short term fix and also, from an advertiser's point of view, place an even greater monopoly of this sector in the hands of Google - an issue that the Washington Post covers here.

For all the latest news and comment on the progress of this story, check Google News. We'll also continue to cover any major developments here that will impact the web marketing and search advertising sector.