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One of Yahoo!'s (NASDAQ: YHOO) plays for showing that it does not need a deal with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is to find another large partner for a merger or joint venture. It is becoming more likely that the partner may be either Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL or News Corp (NYSE: NWS), which owns MySpace.

The structure of a deal with AOL might look very much like the one the firms discussed earlier in the year. According to The Wall Street Journal, "The two companies are talking about a structure they began discussing several months ago -- an arrangement whereby Time Warner would fold AOL into Yahoo and take a minority stake in the combined venture."

A transaction with AOL would give Yahoo! three important advantages. First, it would nearly double the size of its user base, giving it by far the largest audience of any company in the US. Yahoo! would also get AOL's Advertising.com network, the biggest display ad network in the nation. Finally, Yahoo! would get a substantial set of new customers for its search and search advertising businesses.

Wall Street wants to see Yahoo! sold. Any other alternative, including a deal with AOL, is likely to drive its shares down. But, if it wants any chance of staying independent, a transaction with Time Warner may be its only viable alternative.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to people familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) is again talking to Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX), this time about taking over AOL, with Time Warner taking a stake in the combined entity. News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) has its eye on any Yahoo moves. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is considering what its next move against Yahoo might be and is talking to News Corp.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that, as part of the company's plan to cut costs, Tribune Co's Los Angeles Times newspaper may look to cut about 250 jobs, including about 17% of its news staff.
• The Financial Times reported that Chrysler, which has been searching for foreign partnerships, signed with China's Great Wall Motor a memorandum of understanding to explore long-term business ties in areas that include technology, distribution and components.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Dallas News, AMR Corporation's (NYSE: AMR) American Airlines informed its flight attendants' union that is may lay off 900 flight attendants on August 31.

WEB SITES:

• Yonhap reported that LG Electronics will release "Dare," a new touch-screen mobile phone in the U.S. that will compete with Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) latest iPhone models.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to people familiar with the discussions, the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) has held discussions with Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) and News Corporation (NYSE: NWS), among others, about joining it in a deal that could lead to the breakup of Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO). Some of the sources said the preliminary talks are unlikely to result in a deal with Yahoo!
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is reportedly in exclusive talks to sell its wound-care business Ethicon to the private-equity arm of JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), according to the Wall Street Journal. Terms of the potential deal were not disclosed.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Sources familiar with the inquiry said that the Justice Department has opened a formal antitrust investigation into a deal that would allow Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) to provide some search advertising for Yahoo!. The Washington Post reported that investigators will demand documents from Google and Yahoo!, as well as other large companies in the media and Internet industries.

WEB SITES:

• Reuters reported that regulators in the European Union are looking at the long-term effects of BHP Billiton Limited's (NYSE: BHP) $170B bid for Rio Tinto Group (NYSE: RTP). Sources familiar with the EU questionnaire said regulators have asked competitors and customers about effects of the deal on their businesses through 2015.

Seth MacFarlane is the genius behind News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Family Guy animated television series. But why should News Corp. have all the fun programming cool content? That's apparently what Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was thinking when it signed up Seth MacFarlane to produce a series of short animated clips for the Google Content Network.

According to The New York Times, MacFarlane has created something called Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. Little two-minute clips will be distributed to various websites that key in on the youthful male demographic which loves Family Guy. When users click on the clips, they will perhaps see an ad before the thing starts or some sort of banner attached to it. They might also simply see the name of the presenting sponsor before watching. Google will split monies generated by the ads with MacFarlane, the website that features the clip, and Media Rights Capital, the entity which sells the inventory.

I love the idea of the Google Content Network and I think that, over time, it should be a great success, but as with any novel platform, it all comes down to the word in the middle -- content. Google will live and die by the quality of the content because, although lesser-quality stuff might still find an audience in other mediums, the web has such intense competition for eyeballs that have minuscule attention spans. If the clips don't grab the viewer right away, then the ad inventory won't be as valuable to the buyers.

English rock band The Verve, famous for the hit single "Bitter Sweet Symphony" and the ensuing struggle over the rights to the song (eventually awarded to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards because the song sampled a short snippet of a Rolling Stone song), are set to return in August with a new album -- the band's first since 1997's Urban Hymns that featured that bitter sweet single. Billboard reported last week that the new album, titled Forth (Billboard cites it incorrectly as Four) will be released on August 18 in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States.

While the band had not worked together in nine years before reuniting last year to commence work on new music and play a number of festivals, lead singer Richard Ashcroft had enjoyed a semi-successful solo career built on the success that the band had enjoyed in the nineties. He joined Coldplay onstage at Live 8 in 2005 to perform "Bitter Sweet Symphony" to an elated Chris Martin (lead singer of Coldplay) and cheering crowds. The first single from Forth, "Love is Noise", was premiered on British radio June 23 and will be released a couple of weeks before the album. It is currently streaming from the band's News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) MySpace page.

In the United Kingdom, The Verve are signed to EMI Group and will release Forth via Parlophone, but in the United States, a unique release scheme will be utilized, somewhat similar to Radiohead's deal in the U.S. for In Rainbows earlier this year. The band has set up a label, On Our Own, and will release the album through a distribution deal with RED Distribution and Megaforce Records. Previously, the band's albums had been released through EMI's Virgin Records imprint in the United States.

I didn't think Get Smart was going to come in at number one, but that's exactly what happened, according to Boxofficemojo. The film, distributed by Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), took in an estimated $39 million at domestic theaters. The film, quite frankly, looks horrible, and I don't get the fascination people have with Steve Carell's supposed "comedic talents." I don't really find him funny. Doesn't matter, though, because moviegoers have crowned Carell king of the box-office weekend whether I like it or not.

I'm actually more concerned with the race for second place between Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) The Incredible Hulk and DreamWorks Animation's (NYSE: DWA) Kung Fu Panda. Both are estimated as of this writing to have booked a little more than $21 million in ticket sales. I'm concerned about this because I own shares of Marvel, and I'm disappointed in the movie's box-office performance. As of now, the new Hulk has about $96 million in terms of total gross. The fact that it hasn't scored over $100 million by now, coupled with it experiencing a 60% drop for this weekend compared to its debut weekend, leaves me less than satisfied.

Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) The Love Guru bombed. Looks like you can't always count on stars to deliver the important opening-weekend audience. Are people getting sick of Mike Myers? (Jonathan Berr wondered the same thing.) He was only able to conjure up about $14 million for Viacom shareholders, bringing his film to a fourth-place debut. That's embarrassing for Myers, but unlike Steve Carell, he is genuinely funny (although maybe not so much in this particular film, it seems). News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) M. Night Shyamalan movie The Happening grossed around $10 million and came in fifth.

Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks baby is preparing to leave Viacom (NYSE: VIA). That sounds bad, doesn't it? I mean, Viacom should, in theory, be freaked out about losing the star asset.

Yet, an analyst working at JP Morgan has a different take on things. According to Bloomberg, Imran Khan thinks that DreamWorks may be perceived as an expensive business asset. He pointed out that the expenses associated with DreamWorks helped drive a 22% decline in operating income for Viacom's film division in 2007. He further pointed out that films with more modest budgets will aid in generating better returns and will, in fact, reduce the risk of investing in the movie business.

Khan is absolutely correct on his call. I've been talking about the need to reduce film budgets for a long time now, probably to the point where people are sick of me, so I'm always glad when I read an opinion such as this. Only problem is, will the studios listen? Well, they should. Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), and Sony (NYSE: SNE) would all benefit from increased financial restraint when it comes to the business plans of their respective film units.

I read an interesting article over at CNBC about News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace asset. It seems that the social-networking site wants to do something about the fact that it won't succeed in booking $1 billion in net sales before the conclusion of the conglomerate's fiscal year. MySpace will undergo an aesthetic overhaul to make the site more appealing. As it is now, many users might find the site too busy and not so friendly in terms of navigation. The changes will take place over time, beginning this week and concluding in the fall.

The question on my mind now is, did News Corp. really need MySpace? Sure, the site has a heck of a lot of registered users, well over 100 million worldwide, but now people are wondering how effectively these users can be exploited in terms of generating economic value. The article mentioned the disappointing results so far from an advertising deal made with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) back in 2006, one which had a $900 million figure attached to it.

The problem here for News Corp. is that users are fickle and may eventually find another MySpace in the future (obviously, Facebook is an example of how social networking continues to evolve and how any big brand in this arena can be challenged at any time). That wouldn't be good for long-term growth. Another problem cited is the fact that active MySpace users just want to socialize with their friends and/or network; they don't care about the ads. There's a lot of truth to this claim, and it's a huge issue going forward.

I recently wrote about World Wrestling Entertainment's (NYSE: WWE) million-dollar giveaway plans. This is the scheme that sees the Mr. McMahon character reward viewers who register at the company's website with portions of his fortune. He calls them up on the phone during WWE's RAW program and doles out various sums; according to this press release, one winner got $200,000, while another player received $125,000. One poor hapless soul won $2! Remember, Mr. McMahon is an evil guy.

I tuned in to see how the contest would be presented and to get some sense of how it was received. It seemed a bit awkward and slow at times. A few in the audience screamed that they were bored. Personally, I thought it was goofy fun to see Vince McMahon calling people to hand out some of his money and enjoyed it for what it was. But WWE will need to optimize the segment and try to make it more exciting, as I don't think it came off exactly as it wanted. McMahon is supposed to keep handing out $1 million a week for an unspecified time period, so the company will have more chances to improve the presentation.

WWE wants to really juice the ratings for the RAW brand, hoping that viewers beyond the hardcore fan base will stop watching networks owned by CBS (NYSE: CBS), Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), and General Electric (NYSE: GE) long enough to sample the spectacle of the WWE product (of course, GE's NBC Universal owns the USA cable network, which RAW runs on). McMahon is smart to be trying something like this since WWE will be working its way up to perhaps one of its biggest pay-per-view opportunities ever: Wrestlemania 25. With a milestone like that coming, the company has a chance of really expanding its brand equity and setting the stage for long-term growth.

Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) movie The Incredible Hulk was incredibly disappointing (to me at least). No, I'm not talking about the quality of the movie. I didn't actually see it. But Boxofficemojo is reporting that it has grossed an estimated $54.5 million at domestic theaters over the weekend. While that was good enough for first place, it wasn't good enough for shareholders. The movie bombed, plain and simple.

Why am I being so hard on a number-one movie? It's not so difficult to understand. The awful Hulk movie that was released back in 2003 grossed $62.1 million in its opening weekend. There's no way to spin this. We've had five years of inflation between that terrible flick and this new iteration. Simply put, it should have grossed at least $65/$70 million, especially on the heels of Iron Man. I'm a shareholder of Marvel, and I don't like the fact that the success of Marvel's first movie of the summer didn't synergize a little better with the angry green guy.

Focusing on the positive, Marvel was able to beat DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) and its Kung Fu Panda project. The cartoon took in about $34 million and came in second. M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, distributed by News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), did okay by coming in third with a gross of around $30 million. Some analysts thought that the horror flick would do a little bit less than that number. Personally, I thought it should have come in second place considering Shyamalan's name, but I guess people aren't as excited as they used to be about his exercises in cinematic twists (the fact that it was rated R also inhibited its blockbuster potential). Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan did in fact get messed with yet again, dropping two spots to fourth place, grossing about $16 million. I've heard bad reviews on this one. Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were daring enough for fifth place. Everyone's favorite archaeologist has now breached the $275 million level. Great to see a favorite character of mine from the past doing so well.

Billboard reported early Friday that English band Coldplay's fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, is set to see nearly 300,000 copies sold before the weekend is over after being released in the UK on Thursday. The trade magazine reports as well that in the first day of sales, 125,000 copies were sold, making the album well on its way to passing by the band's last album, X&Y, which sold 464,000 copies in the UK during the first week it was released.

Official UK Charts Company, the chart compiler in the UK reported to Billboard as well that the album's sales of 125,000 easily "outsells the rest of the top five biggest selling albums, which have benefited from a full week on sale." In the UK, Coldplay already holds the record for second best first-week seller in chart history with X&Y from three years ago. The number one spot is held by Oasis with 695,000 copies sold for 1997's Be Here Now.

These early sales figures must be a nice boost for the band's label, privately held EMI Group. In recent weeks, rumors and critics of the company and its current owners, the private equity firm Terra Firma, have revealed that Viva la Vida is an album that the label is hinging its summer and possibly its year-round sales on.

The album's success was never in doubt by many onlookers, but with EMI's troubles growing after layoffs and management shuffling, its success will be a great relief. Unfortunately, marketing and advertising for the album has seen more of a push from the band on its own website, News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS) MySpace, and through a television commercial for Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes Store, where a pre-order has been offered with bonus tracks.

Viva la Vida will be released by EMI's Capitol Records in the United States on June 17.

Yesterday, I wrote about my nervousness over Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) The Incredible Hulk. Today, I'd like to talk about how I wouldn't be so nervous if the Iron Man sequel ended up being directed by someone other than Jon Favreau. There are two excellent articles on The Motley Fool discussing this issue, one by Nathan Alderman and one by Marvel expert Tim Beyers. At the time those articles were published earlier in the week, it had seemed that Marvel was reticent about ponying up a higher compensation package for Mr. Favreau on the heels of the awesome success of the first movie starring Robert Downey, Jr. David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios, apparently wants to be very conservative about the company's above-the-line costs. Alderman thinks Marvel should give Favreau the requested raise, while Beyers understands the Hollywood dynamics going on and can see why both sides are doing what they are doing.

By the time my own piece is published, it's possible Favreau may be confirmed as the director of the second Iron Man (as I write this, there are rumors that a deal has been offered). Regardless of what happens, I'd like to offer my opinion on whether or not Favreau is an absolutely necessary component for an Iron Man sequel.

He isn't. And if shareholders think he is, then they had better rethink their investment in Marvel. What shareholders must ask themselves is this: Is it the director that is responsible for the ultimate success of a Marvel film, or is it Marvel management and the intangible value of the Marvel intellectual-property portfolio? Which element adds more equity? As far as I'm concerned as a shareholder, I'm investing in Marvel. I'm not investing in Jon Favreau. Any investor who believes that any one director is indispensable is going to be in for a stomach-churning ride, because when the day comes that a Jon Favreau or a Sam Raimi (he directed the Spider-Man flicks) decides that Marvel is no longer paying them what they're worth and jumps ship, the stock could easily see an overreaction sell-off.

Steven Spielberg wants to reboot the DreamWorks brand, according to this article. He's not happy being at Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount and not having full ownership of his films. What he wants to do now is see if he can summon $1 billion in financing to catalyze this new phase in his life.

Of course, the phrase "see if he can" is probably not the most accurate one to use when talking about Spielberg. When it comes to Hollywood, his word is scripture, and if he asks for financing, he'll have more takers than he can handle. After raising his billion bucks, Spielberg needs to decide which studio will be a perfect home for his new celluloid ambitions. Although the article states that there is a possibility he can land anywhere, to me, there's no ambiguity whatsoever.

Spielberg will end up at General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal (if I could be as sure about the price of oil as I am about Spielberg and Universal, I'd be a rich, rich man). He and his Amblin shingle have had a long relationship with Universal, and simply put, that's where he wants to be. It's funny to consider Disney (NYSE: DIS) and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) as potential new homes for DreamWorks. Disney definitely wouldn't want him since the Mouse is being very conservative in terms of film making, and although News Corp. would love to overpay for him (I think News Corp. enjoys overpaying for things at times), I just don't see Spielberg going to Fox.

Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) has asked CBS Corporation's (NYSE: CBS) free on-demand music streaming service Last.fm to remove the label's music from the site "in an apparent dispute over compensation rates." Billboard reports that CBS is "currently negotiating a new agreement with Warner Music Group and are working hard to built the most comprehensive music service on the Web." Music from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group, and various independent labels remains on Last.fm, and the site's Internet radio service still offers songs from WMG artists.

CBS purchased British-based Last.fm a year ago for $280 million, and WMG was the first major label to sign with Last.fm in February 2007. According to Billboard, WMG had continued to keep music with Last.fm "on a month-to-month basis" after the original deal lapsed. Unlike paid subscription-based services, Last.fm and other free services offer consumers music without charge, and are ad-supported. News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace will soon be starting it's own similar service, which will tap into the social networking site's large user base.

Billboard also reports that WMG had grown "disenchanted with Last.fm's compensation rates" after comparing the rates to other services like the forthcoming MySpace Music. In addition, WMG "owns equity stakes in MySpace Music" and "has been frustrated by Last.fm's failure to proceed with its plans to launch a music subscription service." Paid subscription services have been being pushed by the music labels over other sites and stores like Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes Store because they offer better profits for the labels. Mobile phone services have started to tap into this very service, offering consumers music and players on new phones developed for that very purpose.

World Wrestling Entertainment's (NYSE: WWE) Vincent Kennedy McMahon wants more viewers for his Monday Night Raw wrestling extravaganza. In fact, he's so keen on growing ratings that he's willing to spend his own money to keep viewers tuned. How much? Try $1 million.

In a terse press release concerning a promotional sweepstakes, WWE says that Raw viewers can register at the company's Web site and then watch for codes during the program beginning next Monday. People will be competing to win a portion of a $1 million giveaway each week for some unspecified time period. Now, before you think me naive, I made sure to see if this was legitimate, and from the looks of things it is. According to this AP article, McMahon will really be doing this. According to other reports, the June 9 Raw will reveal the details of the promotion. The $1 million will come from McMahon's own fortune (again, from what I understand, this is real).

There's no question as to why this is being done. WWE wants eyeballs. Ratings have been challenged as of late, according to that AP piece. I think giving away $1 million is exciting, and as far as a marketing campaign goes, it should boost ratings. Only problem is, I'd have to imagine that long-term shareholders aren't happy that this kind of gimmick has to be employed. Is wrestling becoming boring to people? Are they in need of other reasons to watch? Well, the answer would seem to be a resounding "yes."