Microsoft’s dilemma on whether the aqusiition of Yahoo! might be or might not be a profitable investment continues, as the company recently reconsidered its decision to drop the discussions on the issue and began looking into several possible merger scenarios.

The rumors about a possible bid renewal came as soon as one of Yahoo!’s investors, Mr. Carl Icahn, who is also one of the world's richest 50 people, announced his plans to personally get involved in the whole deal, looking to take over the company’s board of directors, preparing the company’s annual meeting on August 1 and even setting up interviews for finding a good replacement for CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang.

It is very likely that Carl Icahn will receive all the needed support for his plans, as many Yahoo! share holders appeared very unhappy when the discussions with Microsoft broke down.

Microsoft announced that once the shareholder election will be over and a new board will be elected, the company would be very interested in reopening the transaction discussions.

This morning, Carl Icahn sent a letter to Yahoo’s shareholders, expressing his firm belief in the deal’s success, saying that "I strongly believe that in very short order the new board would, subject to its fiduciary duties, be presenting to shareholders either a purchase offer for the whole company or a very attractive offer to purchase "Search" with large guarantees." He also talked about his many discussions with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive officer, who is also extremely interested in reaching a satisfactory deal for both sides.

In response, Yahoo! released a statement saying: "If Microsoft and Mr. Ballmer really want to purchase Yahoo, we again invite them to make a proposal immediately." The brief and rather apathetic response was released by the company’s officials in order to show that at this point the general enthusiasm shown two months ago is over and all further discussions will be handled in a much more reserved manner. Not long ago, Mr. Steve Ballmer announced that his company was no longer interested in buying Yahoo! at any given price, even though the company’s officials approached him on many occasions in an attempt to find a good resolution.

At the time of the initial negotiations, Microsoft was willing to buy Yahoo! for $47.5 billion or $33 per share. Jerry Yang considered the amount too small and demanded a pay of $37 per share, a figure way out of Yahoo!’s reach in the past two and a half years. The plans turned cold and after last month’s failed debate session on renewing the initial offer, Microsoft attempted to buy Yahoo!’s online search engine for the price of $1 billion.

Yahoo! decided on focusing on other business opportunities, closing an online advertising partnership with Google Inc. The deal is expected to boost the company’s revenues with at least $800 million per year.

For now, there is a lot of uncertainty and everyone awaits Yahoo!’s August meeting in order to get a clearer view of things to come. "While of course there can be no assurance of a future transaction, we will be prepared to enter into discussions immediately after Yahoo's shareholder meeting if a new board is elected," Microsoft’s officials concluded.