Is Microsoft Bluffing?

If one of the neighbours I don't really like would have plans to sell his house to be turned into a club, I would make him an offer twice the value of his house. This way, even if he wouldn't sell to me, he would probably ask more from its other buyer, and the whole deal may go down the drain for them. This is not really nice, but it's not really illegal either, and according to the last rumors, Microsoft may be doing something similar with their bid to buy Yahoo...

Microsoft, bluffing? Well, that wouldn't be their first time, and this time, even if they were serious, it seems the situation turned upside-down. According to analysts, while Microsoft's shares are slowly losing value, Yahoo is going right up. In the week that passed since they announced the bid, Microsoft's share price went down, so they may add some additional outstanding shares to the offer.But, what deal was trying to pull off Yahoo, in case Microsoft is really bluffing?

Global Equities Research's Trip Chowdhry thinks Amazon was on the way of buying Yahoo, and Microsoft's offer pushed up Yahoo's value just in time to fend off Amazon. Could this be true? We'll leave it in the "rumors" category for now, but it's something we may need to remember one day, because if it doesn't happen this month, or this year, one day such a thing may happen.

In my opinion, Yahoo must survive as a standalone company. They can pull it off, I am sure of that, but we first must see the official statement saying Microsoft's bid was rejected, and then... time will tell, as usual!