For more than a year, Yahoo's efforts to remain an independent company have been chronicled like a daily soap opera by the business press.

This week's story line: Did Yahoo leak confidential information about a former employee to a San Francisco reporter?

The story centers on Eulonda Skyles, an African-American attorney who has filed a discrimination complaint against Yahoo with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Skyles said she had been talking to Zusha Elinson, a reporter for The Recorder, a legal publication, about her case for several weeks when Elinson began to ask about some unprofessional electronic messages she had sent while employed by Yahoo's legal department from 2002 to 2007. The messages, sent from her home computer to colleagues at work, included self-deprecating references to Skyles' performance as a mother and employee, details of discussions with her therapist and rants about her husband. read more