By David Kirkpatrick

NEW YORK -- In the end, Microsoft is almost surely going to end up owning Yahoo's search business. That's the only conclusion I can come up with, having spent months talking to Microsoft's senior leadership for a recent story on the company. And even what does seem like erratic behavior on the part of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer et al points toward that inevitable conclusion.

To understand why Microsoft (GOOG, Fortune 500) so desperately wants Yahoo's search business - which even in its earlier pursuit of the whole company was its primary target - you have to understand how Microsoft sees Google.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) drives Microsoft crazy for two fundamental reasons. One, Google has developed the fastest-growing new pool of profit in technology with its ad-supported search business. And secondly, it has taken the mantle of "greatest and most powerful tech company" away from Microsoft, with all the associated benefits that go along with that, most notably a very high stock-market valuation.

But Microsoft does not accept that Google is the best tech company. And neither do I. It is a fundamental misreading of Google's market success to describe it as the industry's technology leader. It has one very good business which it has managed superbly well, and it lucked into a uniquely powerful business model to support that business with search advertising.

No, what Google has done is not to have created the world's best tech company but to have created the world's most powerful and profitable marketplace. The development of that marketplace flowed from having superior search technology in the company's earlier days. But today Google is not unequivocally the best place to search for information.

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In a harsher economic climate, Starbucks's green-and-white mermaid logo is about to become a little less ubiquitous.

The company, the world's largest coffee chain, said Tuesday that it would close 600 stores in the United States beginning this year. It will lay off more than 12,000 employees in the process, the most in its history.

The plan builds on an earlier decision to close 100 stores, which are included in Tuesday's numbers. Starbucks is retrenching in an effort to recapture the once-mighty growth it built upon venti soy lattes.

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The American Family Association (AFA) launched the boycott yesterday because McDonald's joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce several months ago and placed an executive on the group's board of directors, in addition to donating to the chamber.

The association asked McDonald's to remove itself from the chamber but the burger-maker declined, leading to the boycott. "We're saying that there are people who support AFA who don't appreciate their dollars from the hamburgers they bought being put into an organization that's going to fight against the values they believe in," Tim Wildmon, the association's president, said yesterday.

"Hatred has no place in our culture," McDonald's USA spokesman Bill Whitman said. "That includes McDonald's, and we stand by and support our people to live and work in a society free of discrimination and harassment."

In March, the association ended a two-year boycott of Ford after the automaker largely stopped advertising its Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles in the gay media. The association also has boycotted retailer Target for substituting "holiday" for "Christmas" in its advertising and the Walt Disney Co. for its "embrace of the homosexual lifestyle."

Corporations increasingly are courting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender markets for their buying power and trendsetting value. This translates into corporate sponsorships of events, such as gay pride festivals, and advertising targeted at nonheterosexual consumers.

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The Advertising Standards Authority received more than 200 complaints about the Heinz Deli Mayo advert in less than a week, before it was voluntarily taken off air.

Viewers complained it was "offensive, "inappropriate" and "unsuitable to be seen by children" and said it raised the "difficulty" of parents having to discuss same-sex relationships with their children.

The gay rights group Stonewall has urged supporters to stop buying Heinz products.

Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of the group, said: "We're shocked that an innocuous ad should have been withdrawn in this way. I can't imagine that Heinz would respond to protests about black people featuring in their adverts.

"Our phones have not stopped ringing with supporters who are deeply upset."

The advert show a family's morning routine, with a young boy and girl picking up their sandwiches from "Mum" before heading off to school.

The "Mum" turns out to be a male New York deli worker dressed in a white apron.

When the father of the house gets his sandwich he bids goodbye with the words: "See you tonight, love."

The man then asks: "Hey, ain't you forgetting something?" before the father then gives him a peck on the lips and leaves the house with the man calling after him: "Love you. Come straight home from work, sweet cheeks."

Nigel Dickie, a spokesman for Heinz UK, said the ad was intended as "a humorous take on a slice of life".

He said: "It is our policy to listen to consumers."

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With an exceptional combination of technological know-how and bare-knuckled business tactics, Gates succeeded in his audacious drive to put a computer in virtually every home. As the software monolith he started in college grew to become the world's most valuable company -- at least for a time -- its largest shareholder became the world's wealthiest individual.

Gates, 52, will remain the chairman of Microsoft, working there one day a week. The other days he will devote to the massive foundation he and his wife started to give away much of their fortune in fights to improve public heath and education, and to reduce poverty.

His transition, begun two years ago when Gates relinquished leadership over research and software architecture, becomes final at a difficult time for the Redmond, Wash.-based company.

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Economists are rapidly lowering growth forecasts for Africa and urging donor countries and lending agencies to increase assistance in light of the recent sharp increases in commodity prices. Authors of a just-released economic snapshot are warning African policymakers to be cautious as they plan for the future.

The African Economic Outlook report forecasts a nearly six percent growth in the continent's Gross Domestic Product this year, continuing through 2009. The report was prepared jointly by the African Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

But that report was written in February. At a news conference Friday, co-author Leonce Ndikumana, the UNECA's chief of macroeconomic analysis admitted that the rapid price hikes in the past three months, combined with poor rainfall in many predominantly agricultural African regions have changed the picture considerably.

"We started working on forecasting Africa's economic performance…. These figures were for October, we were forecasting 6.1 percent for Africa, but then when we were finalizing the figures in February, many things had happened," he said. "So the model gave us much lower figures. I would not be surprised if we did it again now we would find much lower figures."

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It said the current price spike was higher than previous records, partly due to bad weather ruining crops.

But factors, such as rising biofuel demand, will keep future costs high.

The FAO said speculators were also to blame for volatile commodity markets.

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The bank's president, Mr Robert Zoellick, said while development partners had pledged additional financial assistance, more needed to be done in agricultural research.

Others are development and infrastructure, since Africa's economic gains were at risk from high food and energy prices.

"This crisis provides the opportunity to build a coalition of responses across the African continent.

"This offers a vehicle for an agricultural renaissance that raises small-scale farmers' income, enhances livelihoods, nutrition and ultimately, food security for Africa," Mr Zoellick said.

He was speaking at joint press conference with Food and Agriculture Organisation representative for Africa, Modibo Traoré.

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Organizers said Monday that U.S. participants in next month's summit will include executives from the Coca-Cola Co., General Electric, Chevron Corp. and Procter and Gamble. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, comedian Chris Tucker and professional basketball player Kelenna Azubuike also plan to attend.

"This is kind of a poor man's African Davos," said summit co-chairman Andrew Young, referring to the annual economic forum in the Swiss mountain resort. "It's a potpourri of ideas and projects and our efforts to respond to the needs of Africa."

Young, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta, said the meeting will focus on topics ranging from climate change and energy needs to jobs for young people, improving health care and coping with rising food prices.

The June 2-6 gathering in Arusha, Tanzania will give American businesses "a good sounding board as to what ideas and what products, and frankly what countries, are most susceptible and ready for investment" in Africa, he added.

There are 4.5 million African-Americans whose ancestors came to the United States during the slave trade and more than 5 million Africans who have come to the U.S. since 1970 as students or political refugees, Young said in a recent interview.

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The demand for expensive coffee has been hit by the US housing slowdown and economic downturn.

Starbucks has cut its forecasts for 2008 profit, blaming an economic environment that it describes as "the worst in the company's history".

The coffee chain giant said conditions had been especially bad in California and Florida, which account for one third of its revenue in the US.

It expects full year earnings to be "somewhat lower" than last year's.

Uncertain times

Results for the first three months of 2008 will be announced on Wednesday 30 April.

Starbucks said it expected earnings per share for the quarter to be about 15 cents (8 pence), down from 19 cents in the same period of 2007 and well below Wall Street forecasts.

More precise forecasts for the year as a whole were not possible, it said, because of the uncertainty about current economic conditions.

"The current economic environment (has been) marked by lower home values and rising costs for energy, food and other products that are directly impacting our customers," said Howard Schultz, Starbucks' chief executive.

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