As the wind-up act for the Financial Analyst Day at Microsoft today, its CFO, Chris Liddell, took the stage to try to put a shine on weak financial results that the software giant recently reported.

“So, what genetic disposition do you need to be a CFO? Essentially, you need to be miserable, you need to be the sort of person who takes drinks away from people at the end of a party,” said Liddell, in his jaunty New Zealand-Hobbit accent. “So, you know, my colleagues who have been giving you drinks all day, have told me to come out here and take most of them away from you.”

Which was ironic, since the all-day event for media and Wall Street analysts ended with cocktails.

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Isn’t it ironic that Yahoo once employed–and for a very long time–top search techie Qi Lu and here he was on stage at the Financial Analyst Meeting at Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Wash., after having just scooped up that business for the software giant.

Lu, who is now president of the Online Services division at Microsoft, was not generous with the details, although he did say making the partnership work was his No. 2 priority after Microsoft’s own search business.

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BoomTown was so glad we had this time together with Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, just to have a laugh or sing a song about a major search and advertising deal.

I liveblogged the conference call, which I updated as it happened.

Did Ballmer scream and jump up and down? Did Carol say something naughty?

Read on!

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According to several sources close to the situation–under the terms of a pending large-scale deal, in which Yahoo would sell search advertising for its sites and some of Microsoft’s, while Microsoft search technology would power it–Yahoo would get to keep pretty much all the revenue and more for the next three years.

Sources said that in the first two years of the partnership, which is expected to be announced tomorrow, Yahoo would keep 110 percent of all revenue. And, in the third, Yahoo would get 90 percent.

That could represent many billions of dollars, since Yahoo will be selling for both companies.

For Microsoft, the payment will–within four years–allow the company to become the de facto No. 2 search technology player after Google.

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Multiple sources close to the situation said that the online search and advertising deal between Microsoft and Yahoo has been struck and will be announced within the next 24 hours.

While it is not clear if the actual papers have been inked or approved by the boards of the two companies, sources said it was a formality and that negotiations are complete on a deal that is less sweeping than originally conceived.

In any case, making any partnership is likely to be the cause of much relief at both companies, since they have been trying–without success–to join together to mount a better offense in the search sector against the dominant Google.

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When Time Warner reports its second -quarter earnings tomorrow morning, before the markets open, most Wall Street analysts are not expecting much from the media giant, as it continues to slog toward a rejiggering of itself.

Time Warner–which owns assets like the Warner Bros. movie studio, the AOL online unit, the HBO and Turner cable networks and Time Inc. magazines–is expected to earn 37 cents per share, compared to 72 cents a year ago, according to a poll of analysts from Thomson Reuters.

Revenue is expected to be $6.97 billion, down from $11.56 billion in the same quarter last year. This drop is mostly due to the March spinoff of its cable unit, Time Warner Cable.

But AOL and its magazine unit are expected to continue to drag on Time Warner’s financial performance.

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How low can Microsoft go?

Very low, it seems, in announcing really bad fourth-quarter earnings, missing Wall Street revenue estimates by an astonishing $1 billion.

Talk about a game of extreme limbo.

No surprise–Microsoft shares have been taking a beating in after-hours trading.

BoomTown liveblogged the earnings call.

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If there’s an earnings call at Yahoo, you know BoomTown is going to liveblog it!

Will Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz say something naughty? (Nope!) What is new CFO Tim Morse like? (Nice!) Will they say anything about the talks with Microsoft about a search and online advertising partnership? (No!)

Oh, it might be a corker!

The earnings results for the second quarter certainly were not.

Here’s the conference call, updated as it happened.

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Yahoo reported so-so second-quarter earnings results today, with a decline in revenue, but with a slightly stronger-than-expected improvement in net income.

For the three months ended June 30, the Internet giant said it had revenue of $1.14 billion, excluding traffic-acquisition costs, down from $1.35 billion in the same period a year ago.

Profit was up eight percent, due to cost-cutting. Yahoo said it earned $141.4 million, or 10 cents a share, in the quarter, compared to $131.2 million, or nine cents.

But that’s not really saying much since Wall Street analysts had such low expectations, estimating Yahoo would earn eight cents. But, with a weak advertising market, it is also not that bad.

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Yahoo and Microsoft are still seriously talking about a search and partnership deal, never-ending discussions that might or might not come to fruition. But most investors will be focused on real results this week, as both tech giants report quarterly earnings.

Yahoo reports tomorrow, while Microsoft clocks in Thursday.

But, after a ho-hum performance last week from Google, Wall Street is not expecting much from either, as the econalypse continues to take its toll on financial performance.

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One of the first Silicon Valley start-ups to go public in a long while–OpenTable–is expected to come to market this week, with venture firms hoping it will prove a tasty treat for Wall Street.

Whether the $42 million initial public offering of the online restaurant reservation service proves to be a bellwether or not is unclear since its business has–despite strong revenue gains over the last two years–run up operating losses for much of its lifespan of more than 10 years.

In any case, OpenTable is most definitely a creature of Silicon Valley. Its CEO, Jeff Jordan, is a former top eBay exec, and one of its VC backers is Benchmark Capital, among others.

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Well, despite the news being as bad at Microsoft as it was at Yahoo earlier this week, the conference call after the software giant released its third-quarter earnings was 100 percent less naughty and 200 percent more glum.

In other words, while there were no F-bombs dropped, there were lots of E-bombs–as in econalypse.

Here’s BoomTown’s liveblogging of the call–featuring the software giant’s semi-apocalyptic CFO, Chris Liddell.

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Microsoft’s earnings and revenue took a hit in its third quarter, as expected, with profits down 32 percent from a year ago on a six percent sales decline.

Before one-time charges, the software giant earned $2.98 billion, or 33 cents a share after one-time charges, on revenue of $13.65 billion.

The weak results were relatively in line with analysts’ estimates of 39 cents a share on $14.1 billion in revenue.

The culprit for the bad news was the decline in consumer and business spending on computers since half Microsoft’s operating income comes from sales of its Windows operating system.

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A major Yahoo investor yesterday told me that he liked what he saw so far from new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, but he was wary.

“I like the sizzle,” he said, referring to Bartz’s decisive take-no-prisoners style. “But I am still waiting to see if steak is there too.”

Well, Bartz sizzled at its first-quarter earnings conference call today, tossing off some ribald words as she also handed over some tough news to chew on, announcing Yahoo’s much-expected weak first-quarter results. The company also said it would cut five percent of its staff of 13,600, which is close to 700 employees.

BoomTown liveblogged the call with Bartz, who noted about Yahoo: “The most important takeaway was the importance of having a ‘Wow!’ experience.”

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Yahoo announced its first-quarter earnings today and results were in line with weak expectations and said it would cut five more percent out of its workforce.

The company reported an eight cent per share profit, down from 37 cents a year ago. It is a 78 percent drop, though last year Yahoo had unusual investment gains in the previous quarter.

Revenues in the current quarter was $1.6 billion, a 13 percent decline from last year’s $1.8 billion. Excluding sales Yahoo shares with its partners, the revenue was $1.16 billion, below the $1.2 billion estimates.

The company also announced it would lay off five percent more of its workforce, or almost 700 employees.

Yahoo later held a conference call, where it discussed the results and more.

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