View the full YHOO chart at WikinvestView the full YHOO chart at Wikinvest UPDATE: Yahoo shares tank on Ballmer’s remarks.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in his first remarks about Yahoo since CEO Jerry Yang said he’d step down, said his company had no interest reopening merger talks.
"Let me be clear," Ballmer told shareholders. "We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo."
Yahoo shares plummeted 17% on the news. The sell-off put Yahoo shares under $10 to what would be a new 52-week low — more than erasing Tuesday gains that were based on optimism Yang’s departure might bring Microsoft back to the bargaining table.
Ballmer’s statement did not vary by one syllable from what the Microsoft CEO has repeatedly said since the merger with Yahoo collapsed — including his openness to a search deal. But it was clearly taken by investors as at least one more of the seemingly dozens of nails Ballmer has put into this particular coffin, and he wasted little time again bursting the balloon held by Yahoo’s cadre of irrational exhuberants.
Microsoft Still Interested in Yahoo Search Deal [AP]
