There were some seismic shifts in the digital world this week that will probably mean the digital landscape will look dramatically different in the coming year.

Yahoo in trouble

With potty-mouthed Carol Bartz being fired from Yahoo, the rumours have started to surface about an impending sale, or possibly even a merger with AOL. What good could possibly come from that?

AOL is already having a torrid time as it suffers indigestion following the acquisition of Techcrunch.

Meanwhile, Groupon has delayed it’s IPO as it attempts to allay fears that it’s business model is sound. To make matters worth, Stephen Levy, author of “In the Plex“, provided a scathing analysis of Groupon’s business model in Wired this week. There’s an IPO that’s looking less attractive/likely by the week!

But it’s not all bad news.

This week Hitwise data showed that Microsoft’s Bing has grown it’s share of search in the US by 4%, and it looks to have come entirely from Google. The total picture might not be as impressive, since Hitiwse relies on ISP data and therefore doesn’t  account for the growing proportion of search taking place on mobile devices.

And, of course, Google continues to go from strength to strength with the acquisition of Zagat, aimed at boosting their Google Places service.

It’s never dull in this industry!