Yahoo has an acquisition strategy focused around three key areas, none of which involve Groupon.
At the Web 2.0 Summit on Tuesday, I asked Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz about the rumor that Yahoo made an acquisition offer to Groupon. I also inquired about the company's overall acquisition strategy and what type of companies Yahoo is looking to buy. On the first point, she noted that the company launched a Local Offers service that aggregates daily deals from 20+ sources, including Groupon.
She didn't deny that Yahoo wanted Groupon, but it seems clear that Yahoo doesn't feel the same pressure to acquire now that it has launched its daily deals platform.
On the second point, Yahoo's CEO was a bit more forthcoming. She told me that there are three types of acquisitions Yahoo wants to make. The first is to acquire useful technology and technical talent. The second is to acquire content (example: Associated Content). She made it clear that content for moms and babies is preferred because it's easier to sell to advertisers like P&G. The final reason for an acquisition is to gain new users. Her example was Arabic web portal Maktoob, which the company acquired last year.