Ballmer comments juice Yahoo shares

Update 10:05 a.m. PDT: Adds Yahoo director Carl Icahn's comments from a CNBC report on Wednesday and more information..

Update 10:42 a.m. PDT: Adds Microsoft statement downplaying Ballmer's remarks.

Here we go again...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is still paying attention to Yahoo and noted in a keynote presentation Thursday at the Gartner ITXpo in Orlando, Fla., that it would still make sense for the software giant to acquire the Internet search pioneer, at the right price.

Said Ballmer:

We offered $33 bucks (for Yahoo) and it's $11 today. It's clear Yahoo didn't want to sell. They probably still think it's worth more than $33 a share.

I still think it makes sense for their shareholders and ours.

Shares of Yahoo, which have been trading near its five-year low and dipped into the $11 a share range Wednesday, shot up 13.8 percent in intraday trading Thursday to about $13.35 a share.

In a statement, Microsoft tried to downplay Ballmer's remarks.

"Our position hasn't changed," Microsoft said in the statement. "Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo!; there are no discussions between the companies."

Yahoo shares soared Thursday immediately after Steve Ballmer's remarks.

(Credit: FinancialContent.com)

But there's at least one person outside Redmond who believes a Yahoo-Microsoft deal makes sense.

Yahoo director Carl Icahn--a former shareholder activist who waged a proxy fight against Yahoo to push the two companies closer together--expressed a similar sentiment Wednesday during an appearance on CNBC.

In the televised discussion, Icahn said:

I will say and I continue to say that sooner or later there's got to be a deal with Microsoft and Yahoo of some type. I really believe that very strongly.

Before reaching a settlement in his proxy fight with Yahoo, Icahn teamed up with Microsoft to make a joint offer for the software giant to acquire just Yahoo's search business. Yahoo rejected that offer.

When Microsoft initially made its offer to buy only Yahoo's search business, the Redmond giant offered a deal valued around $9 billion. Yahoo's stock on Wednesday was in the $11 range, giving the company a market capitalization of $16.3 billion.

[humanssssss]

"makes sense economically" and make "economic sense" have two different meaning. The former reflects on the self-interest of Microsoft. The latter reflects on the self-interest of society.

Writers are encouraged to both understand the meaning of the quote as well as the context in which it is used to quote Ballmer correctly. It's already hard enough to understand english let alone the meaning english is use.

[Mister Winky]

humansssss,

Do you believe your interpretation is in any way clear or universal understood? If you want to promote yourself as an authority on the subject, you might at least provide some sources that support your position. Or are we supposed to accept that your interpretation is empirically correct?

-Mister Winky

[Kwasiowusu]

Ballmer's really stuck on stupid.
What on earth is this guy smoking anyways?
Hey Ballmer you wanna go take over Yahoo, go talk to Yahoo about it. Don't keep shooting off your mouth to the media about it all the time.
The poor abused shareholders of MSGFT have had enough of this is nonsense. Every time there is talk of YHOO being taken over by MSFT, by the world's biggest okro mouth, Steve Ballmer, MSFT stock tanks(like it did in after market trading today)
And it 's been going on for over 7 months. Enough is enough. The water torture treatment for shareholders is enough.
If you wanna do it, do it.
If you don't wanna do it, just shut up about it already.
Ballmer just can't close a deal. And he just can't shut up about it either.

[CBattery]

Sucks being a Yahoo shareholder. They had the golden goose and then got greedy. If those Yahoo dorks think their company is worth over $33 a share maybe they should all go mortgage their homes and buy their own stock.