Court documents cited by the Wall Street Journal (also CNET) show that Microsoft has set aside $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees in the event of a successful takeover. This is apparently not tied to the generous “poison pill” severance packages that Yahoo put in place in the event of a Microsoft acquisition.

The statement was made by Microsoft attorneys in the context of a court hearing filed by pension funds invested in Yahoo. The suit alleges that Yahoo’s directors breaded their fiduciary duty in not responding “in good faith” to Microsoft’s offer.

Meanwhile, the speculation continues about what will happen with the larger Microsoft bid. We get yet another article in the Journal laying out the MicroHoo history and guessing about the potential coming scenarios. It would appear that unless Microsoft walks away, a proxy battle is the most likely.

Accordingly, TechCrunch says that it believes it knows eight out of the 12 potential new directors that Microsoft will likely nominate to shareholders. They include Ross Levinsohn, the former president of News Corp’s Fox Interactive Media. Here’s the current Yahoo board.

We’re all just waiting now for the other shoe to drop.

Related Topics: Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling

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