Microsoft and Yahoo are touting a brief letter that an advertising association sent to the U.S. Department of Justice supporting the search deal proposed by the companies.

In less than a week, Microsoft could reach an alliance with Yahoo that could compete better with Google in online search advertising, according to media reports.

Yahoo's CEO said Wednesday she was open to discussing a Microsoft acquisition, provided the deal were sweet.

Watching Yahoo and Microsoft dance around each other while trying to work out a merger deal last year was like watching two awkward teenagers at a their first high school formal. But, with cofounder Jerry Yang out as CEO and Carol Bartz in, the dancing days may not be over.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer again voiced support for purchasing Yahoo or its search business, hinting in a published report that a deal between the two companies may be reached before the end of the year.

Just a day after Google walked away from a proposed search advertising partnership with Yahoo, the latter firm's CEO said a takeover by Microsoft would now be the best thing for his company.

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has a message for his Microsoft counterpart Steve Ballmer: Microsoft should buy Yahoo, and Ballmer only has to say the word and Yang will be sitting at the negotiating table.

A Yahoo investor Thursday proposed that Yahoo sell itself to Microsoft for US$22 a share, according to a report from the Reuters news service. Yahoo was trading at $12.84 on Friday.