A Sign of the End of Times: Ellison Hearts Microsoft/Yahoo Merger

Is it just me or has the world turned upside down?

One sign: Longtime Microsoft (MSFT) nemesis and Oracle (ORCL) pooh-bah Larry Ellison gave an apparent thumbs up to the software giant’s attempt to take over Yahoo (YHOO) in an article by Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times yesterday.

After noting that the current trend toward hostile tech takeovers were due to his moves against PeopleSoft and BEA (“They are copying us,” he said. “Others would be foolish not to try.”), he seemed to say Yahoo’s CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang was too “emotional” about the situation.

Then, in the biggest surprise, the colorful Silicon Valley icon was quoted in the article: “Mr. Ellison, whose distaste for Microsoft is legendary, hinted that he’s actually rooting for his longtime nemesis over his neighbor, Yahoo. ‘I’ve certainly watched Bill for years,’ he said, referring to Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and co-founder. ‘MSN is modestly successful. It would be a formidable portal combined with Yahoo.’”

Next week: False prophets–and if we are talking Web 2.0, profits!