PRESS DIGEST - Washington Post Business - Feb 2

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The Washington Post included the following items on the front page of its business section on Saturday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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WASHINGTON - Yahoo (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) would still be the underdog in the increasingly important business of Web search if Microsoft's unsolicited $44.6 billion bid to buy Yahoo is approved by regulators and Yahoo shareholders.

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WASHINGTON - Microsoft's bid for Yahoo could provide more choice for big online advertisers living in a Google-centric universe but could hurt small- and mid-sized Internet publishers by taking away one of their options for selling ads on their Web sites.

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WASHINGTON - Buoyed by soaring crude oil prices, Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) announced yesterday that it set new records for U.S. quarterly and annual corporate profits in 2007, and Chevron (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the nation's second-largest oil company, also reported big gains in earnings.

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WASHINGTON - When the Consumer Product Safety Commission returns to work on Monday, it will not have the authority to adopt safety rules, order mandatory recalls of dangerous products, or impose civil penalties on companies that do not report product hazards immediately.