More pontifications on Yahoo!’s handling of the M&A opportunity, here, in an interview I did with SNL Financial. Hmm… note to self: don’t use the word crazy in an interview.Mind you, the way this is unfolding is indeed crazy. Rupert Murdoch’s move was bold and brash… and I think it highlights the fact that Murdoch believes that MSFT will ultimately prevail, so why bother siding with AOL or someone else who will simply lose, only to risk raising the ire of Redmond.

It’s worth noting that News Corp.’s FOX Sports was brought to life when former FOX Interactive Media CEO Ross Levinsohn struck a partnership between FOX Sports (which he was running at the time) and MSN.com. This propelled FOXSports.com into a respectable position alongside ESPN and SI. If you think about it: if indeed MSN ends up being folded into Yahoo! then FOX Sports has a shot of living alongside Yahoo! Sports which is a huge property.

Bear in mind that from FOXSports.com, News Corp. can promote anything he wants within his sprawling FIM empire: be it MySpace, MySpace TV, AmericanIdol.com, IGN, RottenTomatoes, etc.  By at least lining up alongside MSFT, he is leaving that option open and can basically strengthen FIM’s place as the leading digital media playpen amongst traditional media companies’ online strategies.

Mr. Murdoch has proven his shrewdness by upping the bid enough to acquire MySpace in 2005, but this stroke could be even more genius because over time, Yahoo! and Fox Interactive Media remain a viable merger option which would allow him to fully realize the gains he stands to make on this $580M bet on social networking giant MySpace, which is the largest social networking site in the world.

Disclaimer: I own YHOO shares, WatchMojo has a partnership with MySpace TV, I used to work for News Corp. Mr. Murdoch and I are golfing buddies. All right, that last part is not true. We go fly-fishing.

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