It seems to be that major news items like Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Yahoo! always have a way of winding down on weekends. I read the news about Microsoft abandoning their offer on Saturday, and I was reminded of another major news item that ate up huge amounts of my time and went away with a whimper. That was the RIM/NTP injunction which was hot news for months and then fizzled away with a settlement on a Saturday in March 2006.

Now that the Microsoft/Yahoo! flap appears to be winding down, the media may be willing to consider the real news — that maybe Microsoft has bigger fish, than Yahoo!, to fry. As we’ve pondered numerous times in the past half year, where will Microsoft’s future profits come from?

Because they’re most certainly not coming from a secondary position in the competitive $50 billion global market for online advertising. We addressed this question of magnitude, margins and market dominance in our November 2007 Note: Microsoft Posts on Facebook.

I mean. After all. Yahoo! makes a decent amount of money…but nowhere near the kind of mad money that Microsoft currently earns from Windows and Office.

Now that the fund managers, desperate to make a quick buck (presumably to offset massive losses from the mortgage industry), are stepping back. Perhaps it’s time to get back to the business of digital media.

Which is to say. To get back to the difficult task of building digital audiences and monetizing them through subscriptions, advertising or a combination of the two. There’s a lot of work to do.

And that’s what Mike Goodman and I will be talking about tomorrow at the breakfast we’ll be hosting in New York City.

It’s good to be back to the business of digital media.