Two NYT journalists see Microsoft ‘needing a franchise’ as the software giant puts the moves on Yahoo all over again. Two weeks after walking away from takeover talks with Yahoo, Microsoft made clear on Sunday that it still needed to create an Internet powerhouse that could rival Google — and that its interest in Yahoo had not waned. Microsoft said on Sunday that it had approached Yahoo, this time with an ostensibly narrower aim: a collaboration on Internet advertising. But it hinted that it could still seek a takeover down the road.
