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What's deal-making like at Microsoft, post Yahoo-Google? Kind of sad. For example, instead of planting stories with billion dollar ramifications, Microsoft PR over the weekend fed the Wall Street Journal a story on how MSN videos in online sports and entertainment are so popular they exceed sold inventory, so Microsoft will ask the YuMe network to sell extra ads. For Microsoft PR, victory is no longer a leak that breaks the ice, but sneaking PR speak like the following into a Journal reporter's copy:

The relationship is one step in Microsoft's broader effort to increase online ad revenue in areas that aren't dominated by Google Inc., which holds the biggest share of ads tied to Internet search results. Google, meanwhile, is in the early stages of trying to find ways of using its popular online video site YouTube as a source of advertising.