The social network is ailing. Five top executives have quit, including a co-founder who is starting a competitor. And the company is buying employees’ stock–which it can ill afford. Facebook needs to sign up a few rich friends if it’s to avoid becoming Silicon Valley history.

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Former AOL boss Steve Case virtually fled to his Hawaiian pineapple farm after the AOL-Time Warner merger he engineered in 2000 vaporized much of the group’s combined market value. Now that Liberty Media chairman John Malone is open to swapping his 2.8 percent stake in Time Warner for AOL’s dial-up business, the extent of Case’s heroics on behalf of AOL shareholders has become clearer.

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Everyone assumed Microsoft was the loser when it handed Facebook a $15 billion valuation. But reports that Facebook insiders are trying to dump shares at a huge discount to that may highlight the danger of high expectations at a very young age.

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If companies can resemble people, Facebook looks like the awkward teen nearing the end of a growth spurt. Last month it blew by competitor MySpace in terms of unique visitors worldwide. But it still makes far less money than News Corp.’s network. Why? Facebook is following the YouTube model for growth.

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Microsoft is giving a good reason not to Google. The software giant announced a new search model that sees advertisers paying only after a sale and rewards shoppers with cash-back incentives. This is an attractive deal for both advertisers and consumers. But the rewards for shareholders don’t seem so obvious.

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Carl Icahn just stepped into the Yahoo fray–he’s reportedly accumulated 3.5% of the Internet company’s stock. If he can nominate a few directors in the two remaining days before Yahoo’s deadline for filing nominees to its board, the road ahead may not be all that difficult.

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Blame the launch of Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto IV for long lines at video game hawkers today. It’s expected to bring in some $400 million this week alone. The company has held Electronic Arts, its hostile suitor, at arm’s length since February, awaiting the game’ s debut. That now looks smart. Big anticipated revenues from the virtual testosterone-fueled rampage should give it an edge in negotiations.

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Yahoo chief Jerry Yang summarized a plan to turn the straggling company around by becoming the start page for every Internet user across the globe. What Yang failed to provide, however, was a convincing solution to Yahoo’s existential crisis. The Hamlet of the Web won’t succeed by simply trying to become a start page. Yahoo is navigating the waters of the Internet advertising like a goldfish evading a shark, namely its archrival Google. Activist investors ought to take heed–Yahoo is ready for a shake-up.

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If advertisers didn’t want to know, and influence, consumers’ desires, Google wouldn’t exist. Internet search is a fantastic way to collect data and create highly effective, targeted advertising. Not only do advertisers waste less money on sending their message to the wrong people, they can also target small groups that couldn’t be reached economically through mainstream media.

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