Yahoo

Facebook may finally be ready to go public in the second quarter of 2012. At an estimated valuation of $100 billion, the social networking giant is probably no longer a ground-floor opportunity -- but could even that number be too low?

Everyone seems anxious to hook up Yahoo! these days. The dot-com pioneer has become that single aunt in every family whom everyone thinks sorely needs a soul mate. But what if Yahoo! is happy to be single? After all, it just spent $270 million on a acquisition of its own to beef up its online advertising.

There's never a dull moment on Wall Street, especially when new iGadgets hit the shelves and earnings season kicks off in earnest. Let's go over some of the items that will help shape the week ahead.

Shares of Yahoo have been on a white-knuckled roller-coaster ride since the company hired an investment banker to explore shareholder-juicing possibilities, including an outright sale. Reuters has claimed that Microsoft is considering another run at its search partner, but Bloomberg dissents. Who else might buy the dot-com giant?

On Tuesday, Yahoo ousted embattled CEO Carol Bartz, potentially paving the way for media-savvy executive Ross Levinsohn to step in and lead the struggling Internet company. To date, some members of Yahoo's board are "very much impressed" with Levinsohn, according to one source.

Carol Bartz was CEO of Yahoo! until yesterday, when she was unceremoniously fired. During her three year-tenure, Bartz pushed the stock price up 6.6%. Now the online giant's shares have moved roughly the same amount on news of her departure. But the market didn't send shares of Yahoo! higher because Bartz is gone, but rather because of what may come next.

Internet company Yahoo announced late Tuesday that it had fired Carol Bartz as CEO. After more than two years of financial lethargy, investors became convinced that she couldn't steer Yahoo to a long-promised turnaround.