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Steve Ballmer said today that a Microsoft/Yahoo deal would still "make sense economically" for both companies shareholders, sending shares of Yahoo up 13%.
Ballmer was delivering a keynote at a Gartner conference in Orlando, Florida.
The Microsoft CEO said he had no idea what price Yahoo would have accepted (it rejected $33 a share) but that even with the recent drop in share price it "probably thinks its still worth as least as much today," MarketWatch reports.
Before today’s pop Yahoo had been trading for less than $12, a market cap below $17 billion. Microsoft’s final offer valued the company at $46 billion.
Ballmer seemed only mildly optimistic there would be any deal.
"It’s clear that Yahoo did not want to sell the company. It didn’t want to sell when we offered $33,” Ballmer said, according to Bloomberg. "Perhaps there will be continuing opportunities to"’ talk about a search partnership in the future, he said.
Can Yahoo get a break these days? Rumors are been rife that Yahoo and AOL are near announcing a merger, but sources tell wired.com that while there are talks they are not near the final stages. A search ad deal between Google and Yahoo, which was set to conclude this month after a voluntary four-month delay for regulatory review, has been delayed anew pending Department of Justice vetting, delaying a virtually guaranteed revenue stream.
See also:
Microsoft has ‘No Interest" in Acquiring Yahoo
Sources:
Ballmer says Yahoo deal would "make sense economically" [MarketWatch] Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Still Makes Sense, Ballmer Says [Bloomberg]
