Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) co-founders Jerry Yang, also the company's chief executive, and David Filo, the less visible of the two, should take Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) $44.6 billion offer before the world's largest software company realizes how much it is overpaying for the company.

Better yet, Yang and Filo should "reject" Microsoft's initial offer because -- at least according to CNBC -- Microsoft may be willing to up its bid. That seems to be the market's expectation given that shares of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo haven't hit the $31 offer level.

The Yahoo twosome need to get while the getting is good. As The Wall Street Journal notes, "If the deal goes through as presently constituted, Mr. Filo's stake would be worth more than $2.4 billion - not counting his options and other shares..Mr. Yang's stake would be worth more than $1.64 billion - again, not counting options and so forth."

During the height of the Internet bubble, both were worth more than $6 billion, the paper said.

The forays of Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN into original content already spooks content companies, so I bet if the deal through it will lead to a rash of mergers between old and new media companies. A combined company would likely do more original fare to attract advertisers and users.

This raises the question of whether Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) will start developing its own content given the likely merger and its recent disappointing results. Thoughts?