Who's in control at Yahoo? Not so long ago, the answer was easy -- Jerry Yang. But today, the picture of Yahoo's leadership is more than a little murky.

According to TechCrunch, an unconfirmed rumor has surfaced that Yahoo's board met to authorize chairman Roy Bostock, not Jerry Yang, to call Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer and get talks between the two companies back on track. Those talks died this past weekend, when Microsoft walked away from what had become a three-month soap opera.

Curiously, Yang, who has been under fire from shareholders, has been telling the world that he's still open to a deal.

As for Microsoft, there's no guarantee the company will pick up the phone if Bostock, Yang or anyone else from Yahoo calls. While Microsoft has been the subject of a slew of rumors since walking away from Yahoo, Bill Gates told reporters today that the company would likely go it alone.

"Now, at this point, Microsoft is focused on its independent strategy," Gates said.

But that strategy may not suit the online advertising industry, which had hoped that a combined Microsoft and Yahoo would create a strong alternative to Google.

"If you had a stronger No. 2, you'd have a more competitive choice against Google," WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell told The Associated Press. "If the two less powerful units [Microsoft and Yahoo] got together, it would provide a much more powerful alternative."

As it stands now, Google appears to be the biggest winner from the failed Microhoo talks. Google managed to keep apart its two biggest rivals and demonstrate its leadership in search advertising through an experimental deal with Yahoo. That deal, which would have put Google in control of monetizing Yahoo's search traffic, drew a great deal of criticism from both Microsoft and U.S. regulators. Now that the Microhoo talks have collapsed, the Yahoo/Google pact is thought to be on the backburner.