Steve Ballmer was at it again earlier today, telling the audience at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo in Orlando that Microsoft acquiring Yahoo still “makes sense.” A small comment perhaps, but enough to make the market think that Microsoft may be interesting in acquiring Yahoo again, pushing YHOO shares up from a low of $11.28 to $13.63, before they closed at the end of the day at $12.99, or a one day rise of 10.55%. YHOO stock in after market trading is up another 3.7% to $13.47.
With Ballmer causing a rise in Yahoo stock above the NASDAQ rise for the day, Microsoft had to respond. This is all they had to say:
“Our position hasn’t changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo!; there are no discussions between the companies.”
They could have tried a little hard in getting the release shorter though. Like “It’s just Steve, ignore anything he says” or “We like messing with markets, but we ain’t buying.”
My only disappointment: I don’t have a paper version of the release to demonstrate its true brevity ?
