Jerry Yang and the rest of Valleywag readers have had a week to study the 10 best Ballmer-goes-nuts videos. In this, our latest Valleywag poll, tell us which clip jolted Jerry Yang back to the negotiating table and into Ballmer's bear-hug embrace. For me? I'm a Gene Wilder fan.

Remember how long it took for Microsoft and Yahoo to connect their instant-messenger systems? Microsoft's overtures to Yahoo executives seemed to be happening at the same pace. But at last, News.com reports, the companies are talking. Don't expect instant results. One of the reasons why Yahoo made itself vulnerable to Steve Ballmer's takeover bid? Because the stifling bureaucracy Terry Semel installed means everything takes forever to get done there. Jerry Yang's inability to commit to a course of action doesn't help. President Sue Decker is more decisive, but she's going through a divorce, which has to be a distraction, and her lousy people skills make it hard for her to execute on her plans. Steve, why don't you just go hostile? That seems faster. (Image by Geeks Are Hot)

Before agreeing to sell to AOL for $850 million, Bebo president Joanna Shields tried to sell the company to News Corp., Google, Yahoo and CBS. Didn't happen. Bebo gets too little traffic in the U.S., sources from those companies told BoomTown. Microscopic revenues probably didn't help Bebo reach its hoped-for $1 billion pricetag, either. In 2006, Bebo revenues were $7 million, with just $3 million in EBITDA — Wall Street's favored measure of operating profit. Last year, total revenues climbed to $20 million, $5 million in EBITDA. So that's a price-to-earnings ratio of 160. Oh, maybe AOL CEO Randy Falco's valuing it on growth, you say? Let's run those numbers.

AOL CEO Randy Falco said the $850 million Bebo acquisition put his company in "a leading position" in social networks. Too bad his claim doesn't jibe with ComScore's chart comparing Bebo's traffic to social networks MySpace and Facebook, above. Where was "human computer" Ron Grant when Falco needed him to do some math? Below, more damning stats from Hitwise.

Oracle founder and longtime Microsoft opponent Larry Ellison believes Microsoft-Yahoo is a good idea. "MSN is modestly successful," Ellison told the New York Times. "It would be a formidable portal combined with Yahoo." Ellison also suggested Yahoo CEO and cofounder Jerry Yang might not know what's best for the company. Company founders, said the guy who's completed two hostile takeovers in the last four years, "sometimes have a hard time separating their emotions from what's best for shareholders."

Rejected by Take-Two management, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello will take his bid to acquire the rival videogame maker straight to its shareholders, the Wall Street Journal reports. It's not quite the kind of violent carjacking you'd see in Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto, but that's how we'd like to imagine it, OK? EA has told shareholders it will buy outstanding Take-Two shares for $26 each. That's the same price Riccitiello offered last month, when it was a 50 percent premium over Take-Two's share price.

AOL CEO Randy Falco just announced to employees that AOL will buy the social network Bebo. News.com reports AOL paid $850 million. In the memo, Falco claims the acquisition "puts us squarely in a leading position in social media at a time when it's growing at a fantastic rate." Incorrect. We may not know what "social media" means, but we know how to define "leading." And the only thing Bebo leads in is down time. As of February 26, Bebo led all social networks with 12 hours and 28 minutes of down time since the beginning of 2008. Here's Falco's delusional memo in full.

Microsoft has agreed to acquire corporate virtualization specialist Kidaro for an undisclosed amount — though we hear it's around $100 million. Kidaro allows corporations to build secure, controlled workspaces for remote users. Its software enables companies to restrict what applications, network resources and data users can access. Virtualization is big business; Kidaro has a great product for corporations. Why doesn't Microsoft just do deals like this instead of spending $44.6 billion on Yahoo? That seems easier.

The two largest shareholders in Take-Two Interactive dumped a huge percentage of their holdings according to SEC filings Monday. Oppenheimer Funds sold 8.4 million shares, roughly half its holdings, lowering its stake from 23 percent to 11.5 percent. Fidelity sold 7.5 million shares — almost its entire stake. It now owns 2.75 percent, down from 14.7 percent. It's telling that the big mutual funds are willing to cash out now for a few dollars below the $26 buyout price offered by EA. Oppenheimer and Fidelity's moneymen think the deal may fall apart — at least, they're not sticking around to find out. The other possibility? They think the deal IS going to happen and don't want their money stuck in Take Two stock for a year while the details are worked out. (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)

European regulators officially cleared Google's $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition. Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL will provide "credible" competition, the European Commission determined. When did "credible" become a synonym for "hypothetical." [WSJ]

Click to viewOver the weekend, first Digg CEO Jay Adelson and then, more believably, BoomTown's Kara Swisher debunked the rumors that Google and Microsoft are in a bidding war to buy Digg. But nobody believes Digg isn't actually for sale. So Gawker Media conceptual artist Richard Blakeley decided to illustrate the typical Digg power user for potential buyers. 13 signs you may be a Digg power user, below:

This morning, Michael Arrington said Google, Microsoft and two media companies were bidding $200 million or more on Digg. Digg CEO Jay Adelson declared on Friday:

A Digg sale might happen soon, to Google or Microsoft, says Michael Arrington. Cofounders Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose have made no secret of their disinterest in running a big company or going for an IPO. That leaves no exit but a sale, which Digg's bankers at Allen & Co. have been working on for months. This latest rumor could be just another trial balloon. Or it could be the beginning of the end. If not to Digg, then to a drama-filled life as an independent concern perpetually for sale. (Photo by briancaldwell)

Forbes magazine reports that, worth $58 billion, Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest man. He's the third-richest. Although more than half of his wealth is invested outside Microsoft, Gates can likely blame the bad news on his oldest buddy. Steve Ballmer's unsolicited bid for Yahoo tanked Gates's net worth. Between the day before Ballmer announced the bid and February 11, when Forbes finished its accounting, Microsoft shares fell 15 percent. (Photo by Esparta)

European antitrust regulators will approve Google's $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition later this week, the Financial Times reports. Expect Google's top lawyer David Drummond to soon turn up the heat on Microsoft-Yahoo. Before the EU finally approved Google-DoubleClick, Drummond had reason to stay relatively quiet as the new company formed by Microsoft-Yahoo would obviously create real competition for Google. But with EU approval in hand, that incentive is finished. Last fall, Google CEO Eric Schmidt credited Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer with slowing down Google-DoubleClick in Washington and abroad. Think he isn't eager to set his own suits on the attack?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is reportedly considering changing the offer to buy Yahoo from half-cash and half-stock to all-cash, effectively raising the bid from $28.87 a share to the its original $31. That would up Yahoo's price tag from $41.5 billion back to $44.6 billion. Credit Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang for negotiating without really trying. Word has it his dalliances with Time Warner and News Corp. inspired the idea.

By extending a March 14 deadline for shareholders to nominate new board members, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang thwarted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's carefully orchestrated plan to make public what's so far been a behind-the-scenes proxy fight. Ballmer intended to announce a new slate of candidates for the board on March 13. Now Yahoo doesn't have to accept nominations until 10 days before it schedules its annual shareholder meeting. Yahoo could hold that meeting as late as July 12. Sources say Ballmer is pissed. "Ballmer is just one of many highly emotional people involved in this," a source told the New York Post. "Microsoft has been trying to avoid going completely hostile, but now it is going to get completely hostile." What's Ballmer going to do? Throw chairs at the meeting?

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes want an AOL-Yahoo merger that would give Time Warner a large minority stake in the new company. The idea is that joining Yahoo and AOL — which itself plans to add a dozen new sites in the next six months — would create the dominant online advertising company. OK, maybe. If you're not counting search.

Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) will purchase Web metrics firm Compete for $75 million in cash and another $75 million in an earnout through 2010. Compete lost $4.5 million last year on $14.9 in revenue. [SAI]

Blogoscoped's Phillip Lessen found a month of spare time — or however long it took to pull together 1,940 words — and wrote a post to explain "Why Google buys companies." If you're building anything that has a shot at getting scooped up by Google, you won't have time to read it. So here's a version for you: