When Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) assembled a slate for Yahoo’s (NSDQ: YHOO) board, the names didn’t matter too much: it was mainly about getting ten directors who would vote yes. For Icahn, it’s a little different, because the play isn’t so cut and dry. We still don’t know, for example, how Microsoft will respond to this. The big surprise on the list is obviously Mark Cuban, and his history with Yahoo is great fodder for writers. By including him, Icahn ensured that he’d get maximum PR buzz from the move. Now it just so happens that Cuban penned a post on his blog yesterday evening entitled “Beating Google?”. It’s a fanciful post that calculates what it would cost to pay the top site owners for 25,000 categories to block Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search and go exclusive with another ad provider. Answer: probably well over $1 billion. Would anyone—Microsoft or Yahoo—actually do something like this? No (well, we’d be totally flummoxed if they did), but it makes for a fun debate and mental exercise.

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Staci adds: I asked Mark why do this. His reply: “Why not?” Indeed.