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TechCrunch floated a rumor that Fox wouldn't mind ditching Google and a $900 million ad deal for MySpace in favor of Microsoft as an advertising partner.

(UPDATE: Looks like whoever sourced the original rumor spoke either A) out of turn or B) out of his/her butt, as a Fox spokesperson said via email rumors of negotiations with Microsoft to replace Google are completely false.)

It wasn't a secret during Google's most recent earnings announcement that the company felt social networking ad performance proved a drain on the bottom line. In response, MySpace owner Fix Interactive Media, Google's big social networking partner, could be looking for an exit strategy.

Michael Arrington cited an unnamed source in claiming Fox wants Microsoft as an ad partner for MySpace. If Fox's deal includes meeting certain targets to make the most of the Google deal, and they anticipate missing those targets, the desire for a Facebook-like investment by Microsoft makes sense.

"According to our source, Sergey Brin’s thinly veiled buyer’s remorse verbalized during Google’s most recent earnings call on January 31 angered News Corp./FIM execs," said Arrington. Google co-founder Brin commented about social networking and its failings, without naming MySpace directly.

But MySpace represents Google's big social networking partner. If Google can't figure out how to monetize social networking, Microsoft could be equally hard-pressed to do so.

Microsoft could be willing to do a deal just to take MySpace out of Google's reach, given a sound business reason for that. Steve Ballmer and company may enjoy seeing Google struggle with MySpace as an albatross hanging on Google's earnings; it doesn't cost Microsoft anything to sit back and watch the fun.