Advice for Yang and Ballmer

Now that the Microsoft board reportedly has met to consider its Yahoo options, the beginning of the takeover chapter's final saga seems nigh.

For some perspective, we asked Kourosh Karimkhany, VP of business development for Conde Nast's online unit, what he thought Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Yahoo's Jerry Yang should do at this point.

Karimkhany, a former manager at several of Yahoo's online properties, says Yang's biggest challenge will be retaining and attracting talent -- whether or not Microsoft takes over.

For Ballmer, Karimkhany's thoughts are the same we've been repeating since the saga began: Microsoft should walk away from this deal and spend all that money snapping up smaller Internet companies that it can more easily integrate into its online and entertainment unit.

"That's a lot of money," Karimkhany says of the $40 billion or so Ballmer has offered for Yahoo.

The takeover dance has already limited the companies' abilities to do other deals, taking away a potential rival bidder for startups and making life easier for other corporate media buyers like Conde Nast.

Late last week, Conde Net acquired SFO Media, which operates two fast-growing travel blogs for an undisclosed sum.