Ballmer still has Yahoo! envy

At today's Gartner ITExpo in Orlando, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer said "I still think it [an acquisition of Yahoo! by Microsoft] would make sense economically for their shareholders and ours." He also stated that Microsoft wasn't pursuing a deal, and that he thought that Yahoo's shareholders probably still believed that the company was worth $33 a share. Nevertheless, Yahoo's share price spiked on the non-news, closing up 10.55% and another 3.7% in after-hours trading, to $13.47 as of when I'm writing this entry.

It's clear that Ballmer still wants Yahoo!, and could probably get it for $20 a share. The question is whether he'll actually do something, or as Bill Griffith put it on CNBC today, "keep pining for it like an old high school sweetheart." Steve, please put up or shut up, once and for all. Otherwise, people will keep believing that you've got a crush on Yahoo! that just won't give up.