Yahoo ratcheted up its efforts on Wednesday to improve its negotiating position in the face of an unsolicited takeover bid from Microsoft, amid signs that it was edging towards a three-way alliance with Google and AOL that might protect its independence or at least force Microsoft to pay more.

There were also reports that News Corp was in talks with Microsoft about joining in that company’s bid for Yahoo. The talks involve News Corp combining MySpace, its social networking service, with the Microsoft and Yahoo internet businesses, according to the reports. Both News Corp and Microsoft refused to comment.