The AOL-Yahoo deal Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang spent the Fourth of July weekend trying to cobble together won't happen. At least, not in time for Yang to present it on August 1 to Yahoo shareholders as an alternative to Carl Icahn's Microsoft-Yahoo promises. The deal would have combined Time Warner's online property AOL with Yahoo and given Time Warner 10 percent of the new company. But Yang's problem is once again the price he wants for Yahoo. Specifically, Yang believes Yahoo's recent search deal with Google boosts the company's revenues so much, it makes it worth more than Time Warner has so far said its willing to pay. Ah, the delicious irony, a Google deal that was supposed to keep Microsoft away ends up driving Yahoo right into its arms.

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