On his way out of the door, Billg has offered to buy the search engine company Yahoo for $44.6bn (£22.4bn) in cash and shares. The offer, contained in a letter to Yahoo’s board, is 62% above Yahoo’s closing share price on Thursday.

Yahoo confirmed that it has received an unsolicited offer and said that its board would evaluate the proposal, “carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo’s strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.”

If Yahoo accepted the offer, competition authorities both in the US and the European Union would be likely to investigate the tie-up. Yahoo chief executive, Jerry Yang, announced on Tuesday that he intended to lay off 1,000 staff as part of a restructuring plan. Terry Semel, who stepped down as chief executive last June, also quit as non-executive chairman on Thursday. I sure hope he kept his shares and didn’t do a Jobsy - when Steve Jobs bailed on Apple and sold all his shares (but one) and took a bath!

Looking for some cool Winter wallpapers for your PC or iPhone? I’ve dug up a couple or three Winter X Games from the EXPN sites - So if you’re a fan of Snowboarding, Snocross, Boarder X, Skicross, Shaun White and the rest of the craxy EXPN crew check them out after the jump. I’ve also thrown in a few cool Quicksilver, Burton, Oakley and Never Summer backgrounds for good measure

Valentine’s Day is like herpes: just when you think its gone for good, it rears its ugly head once more. No wonder some people prefer to call it VD. Yes, it’s that special time of year when chocolate manufacturers and greetings card companies encourage you to demonstrate the extent of your fondness in cold, hard, cash (or the satin-covered equivalent) on February 14th. If you despise VD then you gotta check out the Anti Valentines Day site at meish.org…. I’ve no clue why they are so mad, but damn, they have some pretty funny cards for you to send to your soon-to-be-ex.

This year, celebrate or commiserate by sending an anti-valentine. Stick two fingers (or one, if you’re that way culturally inclined) at any organisation with a vested interest which prescribes how and when to show your feelings. This year, don’t say it with flowers: say it with bile.

Apparently, Nokia is in talks with Facebook about a potential partnership and investment, according to paidContent. The deal, if it goes ahead, would see a mobile version of Facebook being “ported” to Nokia mobile phones in a “major way”. Sounds a bit like Nokia are getting worried by the iPhone and want to latch onto the hottest web ticket.

Nokia could also become the latest investor in Facebook (after Microsoft etc), presumably as a way to solidify any partnership. With Nokia having a financial stake in the company, any partnership to promote Facebook through Nokia’s chain would be that much stronger. I wonder how much longer FB can remain independent/non public.

Just when I thought I didn’t have enough work to do over at Penton Media, I’m working with a couple of New Media (I hate that term btw) experts on the definitive eMedia Wiki. This project is going to take up many hours, so I expect to be burning the midnight oil for at least, uh, the next 2 nights. Check out the New Media, sorry, eMedia Wiki. In fact, why don’t you check it out and contribute? Isn’t that the Web 2.0 way?