All eyes on Yahoo! this week as they release their most important earnings data in the company’s history April 22nd. Google, Microsoft and Alibaba Group will be watching closely to see if they can deliver the numbers they reaffirmed with analysts. We will also be looking for signs of traction from tweaks to its advertising algorithm and the ongoing test of outsourcing its search advertising to Google (which would inveitably take Yahoo! out of the search game as it did AOL).

If they deliver as expected (especially after the strong Google numbers) it could delay Microsoft’s takeover a little while longer as well as buy more time for Alibaba Group who we believe is continuing to look for strategic investors interested in Yahoo!’s current 39% stake in the company.

A couple of other dates for your calendar are the pending April 26th deadline for Yahoo! to accept Microsoft’s bid or face a proxy fight as well as May 7th when the lock up for Alibaba.com (1688.hk) employees expires.