Microsoft's CEO discounts Yahoo strategy

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer made a few revealing comments Friday while speaking at a technology conference in Moscow.

The take-away from his speech, according to a Reuters report: Microsoft never viewed its proposed acquisition of Yahoo as strategic.

In other words, Redmond was prepared to pay tens of billions of dollars for a non-strategic acquisition? An acquisition that would, by far, be the largest in its history? Very interesting comments, indeed.

Here are Ballmer's exact words, per Reuters:

"Yahoo was never the strategy we were pursuing, it was a way to accelerate our online advertising business," he said. "We will spend money on some acquisitions. You can do a whole lot of things with 50 billion dollars."

Yahoo may find it interesting that Ballmer rounded up his multibillion figure. When Microsoft walked away from the negotiating table on May 3, it was offering $33 per Yahoo share--making that offer worth about $47.5 billion.

Rounding a Yahoo acquisition up to $50 billion would have put it in the high $34-a-share range. Yahoo, though, was looking for something more along the lines of $37.

The two companies have since re-entered talks, but not for a whole-hog takeover. Instead, Microsoft is now looking at acquiring certain Yahoo assets, including its search business.

[Renegade Knight]

It's not that MS needs Yahoo to follow their chosen survival strategy as it is that Blan B is so much worse that Yahoo may buy MS in a few years.

50 Billion dollars only goes so far.

Yahoo would be utterly stupid to sell off it's assetts. The only ones MS would buy are the ones worth keeping.

[desmondhaynes]

MS is desperate to get a toehold in the search market - ignore safely what Balmer is uttering...
http://techwatch.reviewk.com/2008/05/microsoft-to-lure-search-users-with-cash/

[The_Decider]

What a hoot!

This is just as I predicted he would say when the attempt failed.

Why Microsoft's board keeps this clown around is a mystery.

Maybe they could spend that 50 billion dollars on innovative ideas and competent programmers? It is a wild notion for Microsoft, but others have been successful doing it.

[ppgreat]

I hope he carries a bottle of Listerine around in his hip pocket to rinse out his mouth after constantly spewing out BS like this.

[benjaminstraight]

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