Poor data may once again lead to buyout speculation in Yahoo (YHOO)

Yesterday, comScore released the July market share data for the search engine industry. The results were not pretty for Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO), with its share standing at just 23.5% for the month, way behind Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) 55.2% share of the market. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) stood at 12%, IAC/InterActiveCorp's (NASDAQ: IACI) Ask.com at 4.7% and Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) at 4.4%.

While the market share data was being released, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was telling Bloomberg that Yahoo would be an expensive acquisition. However, Ballmer may be positioning Microsoft to once again approach the No. 2 search engine company. Earlier this year, news reports circulated that Microsoft and Yahoo were in partnership discussions.

By combining its own sites with that of Yahoo's, Microsoft's market share would quickly jump to 36% market share -- not too bad. With the Internet just over ten years old, paying $50 billion for that much market share may be the best money Microsoft can spent. To date, the PC-centric software giant has had a tough time with most of its Internet initiatives. Conversely, Yahoo CEO, Jerry Yang, has to realistically assess its ability to catch up to the Google machine.

At the end of the day, the Silicon Valley-based search company may have to swallow its pride and hook up with the much despised Washington-based software giant. Microsoft would get to utilize its deep bench of software engineers with a powerful and underutilized portal, while Yahoo would get to move away from its foray into the media business and move back to being a technology driven company.

It may be their last chance to survive and thrive in the Internet era before having their lunches completely eaten by Google.