News.blog: Ballmer promises to keep Yahoo brand

Microsoft says it can find $1bn (£500m) in cost cuts by combining Yahoo's business with its own Internet services operation, however CEO Steve Ballmer says the Yahoo name isn't one of the things on the chopping block.

"Yahoo, the brand, will live," Ballmer told BusinessWeek.

Even if the brand lives, though, it is unclear which of Yahoo's technologies Microsoft would adopt. A merged company would have to choose among two email systems, two ad platforms and two instant messaging systems, to name just a few of the many overlaps.

Microsoft has thus far offered few details on what it might look to cut if its deal goes through, and Ballmer didn't offer much in the way of new details in the magazine interview.

Of course, the biggest hurdle at the moment is convincing Yahoo to take its offer, one which has declined in value since it was made last week.