The world woke up to this astounding business news this morning: online retailer Amazon is buying natural food wholesaler Whole Foods in a deal reported to be north of $13 billion.

Microsoft and LinkedIn have announced that Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for a cool 26.2 billion dollars.

In a lovely “we told you so” moment, we can report that two key Federal agencies – both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) – are opposing the planned merger of AT and T and T-Mobile. We predicted Federal opposition to the merge when AT and T first announced their plans to takeover T-Mobile, and the Feds are opposing the merging for much the same reasons that we said that they would.

If the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has its way, the proposed merger between AT and T and T-Mobile will be vetoed, because it will create a monopoly in violation of antitrust law. According to papers filed by the DOJ in Federal court, “AT and T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market.”

News of a possible merger between T-Mobile and Sprint / Nextel has been met with reactions ranging from apathetic to negative. Talks between Sprint and Nextel, and T Mobile, have been going on for the past few months, and are now at the point of determining the appropriate valuation for the respective companies. While “valuation” may sound more like a purchase than a merging of the two companies, the actual transaction would have only shares of the merged company, not cash, exchanging hands, with T-Mobile assuming a majority stake-holder position (in other words, essentially acquiring Sprint Nextel).

Once considered two of the top ISPs, AOL and Yahoo have both been somewhat stagnant for years. While Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz, has managed to stabalize Yahoo’s profits by cutting costs, they are far from out of the woods. Despite AOL’s market value – at just $2.7 billion – being only 13 percent of Yahoo’s, AOL is said to be exploring various arrangements that could see it buying Yahoo or, at least, merging with Yahoo.

There are several reports that Facebook and Skype are about to enter into digital matrimony or, at very least, are becoming friends with benefits. According to the reports, while rumours that Facebook and Skype may merge are not true, it is true that a partnership is apparently in the offing, and that Facebook users are going to be able to talk to each other over Facebook, using technology that is, under the hood, decidedly Skypeish.