Microsoft is back and offering a new deal to Yahoo!.

Microsoft Corp has proposed to buy Yahoo Inc’s search business and take a minority stake in the Web pioneer, stopping short of a full-out merger, a person familiar with the discussions said on Monday.
As part of the deal, Yahoo would sell its Asian assets including significant minority stakes in Yahoo Japan and China’s Alibaba Group, while Microsoft would buy a chunk of what remains of the company, the source said.

TradeMediaBlog is keeping a close eye on this complicated deal as we would expect Alibaba Group to move quickly in helping Yahoo! to sell its shares in the company and odds are that they already have the buyers in place. We believe that these buyers can expect to pay a premium for these assets - but as reader’s of this blog know, we strongly believe they are worth it!