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Rumor has it that, if Microsoft is successful in acquiring Yahoo, many Yahoo employees will promptly quit in order to receive at least four months' (and up to two years') worth of severance pay.  Now, to make sure some people stick around, it seems Microsoft will spend $1.5 billion.

 Microsoft Spending $1.5 Billion For Retention

We've moved well beyond rumors here, with a Yahoo lawyer and court transcript being the source of the info.  Microsoft simply "earmarked $1.5 billion for employee retention at Yahoo," according to a WSJ report.

What's less clear is how Microsoft intends to spend the money; it's hard to imagine the company writing checks to everyone at Yahoo.  Things meant to overshadow the much-admired Googleplex might be at the center of its plan.

At any rate, even though $1.5 billion is a ridiculous amount of money, there are all sorts of reasons for Microsoft to take this step.  The company could, in a PR sense, hope to win over Yahoo employees and the public.  It could also keep Yahoo's most valuable properties from being damaged by abandonment.

Meanwhile, everyone's waiting for Microsoft to make some other definitive move in the acquisition process.