Dow Jones reports new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartzs gut instinct is to hold on to Yahoos search business"and I tend to agree.

She apparently

told employees on Wednesday that she needs to better understand the pros and cons of selling the struggling Internet giants search business, but her gut instinct was not to.

While Yahoo Search may not show signs that it can compete with Google"and its recent acts are turning off advertisers"the psychological impact of dumping its search business could be huge. Without search, Yahoo would find it a lot tougher to gain the attention of the media and its (our) infatuation with all things search. Need proof? How often do we discuss AOL, since it pretty much gave up on the search race?

There may come a time when it will make sense for Yahoo to sell off its search division, but the company is beat-up and bruised right now. Just as I wouldnt sell my home during the housing bust, Yahoo should take the time to sit back and decide if it really wants to get out of the search biz.

What do you think? Should Yahoo sell its search division or not?

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