Microsoft News Tracker

Associated Press:

Facebook, an Internet-based social networking site, is in “serious” talks to sell itself to Yahoo Inc. for a pricetag that could approach $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook had separate discussions with suitors Microsoft Corp. and Viacom Inc. in the past year as well, the newspaper said.

Even if Microsoft isn’t currently in the running, a Yahoo acquisition will clearly put a damper on Microsoft’s big Facebook ad deal announced at the end of August. However, Michael Arrington at Techcrunch casts a jaundiced eye on the report:

We’ve been through all of this before with Facebook, back in March. There isn’t much in the WSJ article to suggest that the talks are serious other than the unnamed source they cite.

Some eccentricities of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also revealed.