Microsoft Business Strategy Rules Out Yahoo Buy

The Microsoft business strategy to buy Yahoo has faded, according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang urges the software giant to buy the Internet search engine company. The report comes after Google exited from its advertising partnership with Yahoo.

Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement on Friday that a Microsoft business strategy does not include a bid for Yahoo Inc. The statement comes after Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang said the software giant should buy the Internet search engine.

"We made an offer, we made another offer, and it was clear that Yahoo didn't want to sell the business to us, and we moved on," Ballmer said in a statement released on Friday.

"We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition. I don't know why they would be either, frankly. They turned us down at 33 dollars a share," Ballmer added.

Yahoo shares were trading down at $12.25 on Friday. The Internet search firm has dropped more than 12 percent.

Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang now has a different look on a Microsoft acquisition. Yang suggests that Microsoft should buy his pioneering Internet firm. The Yahoo CEO said it would also be good for Microsoft business.

"To this day, I would say the best thing for Microsoft is to buy Yahoo," Yang said in a statement. Yang feels that there is still a chance for both companies to negotiate a deal.

However, Ballmer did hint that the two business technology companies might partner around searches. This could include shared revenues in online advertisements which would benefit Microsoft business.

"I'm sure there are still some opportunities for some kind of partnership around search, but I think acquisition is a thing of the past," Ballmer said in the statement.

"Everybody needs a good competitor, and we just want the other guys in this business to have a good competitor that they have to think about every day," he said.

Google Inc exited from a Yahoo advertising partnership this week after the US Department of Justice wanted to enforce anti-trust regulation. The Justice Department said the growing alliance would threaten online advertisement competition.

The partnership between Google and Yahoo would control 90 percent of the ad market. That kind of control sent anti-trust regulators vowing to block the partnership.