Ballmer’s comment lifts Yahoo’s stock
Yahoo Inc.’s stock price reversed its steep slide Thursday after Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer raised the possibility of renewing his attempt to buy the downtrodden Internet company.
In a presentation made at a Florida technology conference, Ballmer said a deal between Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) and Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) could "still make sense economically."
After that remark was reported, Yahoo shares soared by as much as 17%. The stock closed up $1.24, 10.6%, at $12.99.
Earlier in the session, Yahoo’s stock had sunk to $11.37 - its lowest price in more than five years and a fraction of the $33 per share that Ballmer previously offered for the Sunnyvale-based company before withdrawing the bid in a disagreement over price with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft sought to defuse Ballmer’s comments with a statement that said the software maker "has no interest in acquiring Yahoo no checking account payday advance. There are no discussions between the two companies."
Nevertheless, many investors are still clinging to the hope that Microsoft might make another run at Yahoo as it tries to counter Google Inc.’s (GOOG, Fortune 500) dominance of the Internet search market.
The enthusiastic reaction to Ballmer’s off-the-cuff comment indicates Microsoft has more influence over the direction of Yahoo’s stock price than Yahoo’s own management team.
Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder, so far hasn’t been able to convince Wall Street that he has a plan to snap the company out of a three-year financial funk that could deepen if online advertisers curtail their spending to save money in a weak economy.