Debunked Facebook-Yahoo search rumor begets a Facebook-Yahoo-Microsoft search rumor
Paul Sakuma/AP
Rumors that the three tech companies may partner up continue to swirl.
One would think that sources ROFLOLzing in the face of a possible joint Yahoo-Facebook search venture would quiet the rumors that the two companies are thinking about working together, but it has only led to further rumoring. On Sunday, The Telegraph's Katherine Rushton started it all, when she cited sources saying that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer met with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to talk about how the two companies can work together, specifically on a search product. Since, AllThingsD's Kara Swisher (who has a lot of solid Yahoo sources), has totally squashed that possibility. "Yahoo and Facebook are not currently in talks about forming a search alliance or building a search engine together, according to my sources, who scoffed about such a deal reported in a thinner-than-tissue-paper post by the Telegraph earlier today," she wrote. She also pointed out a big obvious problem with the idea of said talks: Yahoo has seven years left in its 10-year search deal with Microsoft. So, rumor over, then, right? Of course not. The rumorers have figured out a way to make sense of all the conflicting reports: Microsoft must be in on it all.