Report: Ballmer still interested in Yahoo search

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer reiterated his interest in landing a search deal with Yahoo during a midyear strategic update with analysts Tuesday, according to a CNBC report.

But while Ballmer is apparently willing to re-engage in a dialogue with Yahoo regarding a potential search deal, the software giant has been "rebuffed and ignored" by Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, on any overtures it has made to initiate discussions, said a CNBC reporter, citing anonymous sources.

Yahoo was up 5 percent to $12.57 a share in pre-market trading.

Yahoo, meanwhile, apparently is operating without a top M&A executive, following the departure of Gerald Horkan, the company's senior vice president of corporate strategy, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Horkan, who spent most of last year as Yahoo's dealmaker in Microsoft's failed bid to acquire the search company for as much as $33 a share, left Yahoo a few weeks ago and has not been replaced, the Journal reports.