Good Morning Silicon ValleyWhat exactly were these Yahoo investors expecting? That immediately upon the announcement of Jerry Yang's decision to step down as CEO, Microsoft would do a quick 180 and come running back with a new offer to buy the company? Apparently that dream alone, and not any renewed confidence in Yahoo's independent prospects, fueled Tuesday's run-up in the stock price, and when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer popped that bubble once again today, those gains and more evaporated, leaving the stock to bounce around near its 52-week low. Speaking at Microsoft's annual stockholders meeting, Ballmer was unequivocal: "Let me be as clear as I think I've tried to be publicly: We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo. We have moved on." Consistent with earlier and repeated pronouncements (see "A Yahoo search for 'stages of grief' might help"), Ballmer said some sort of search and advertising deal with the purple portal people remained a possibility. "There's no active discussion on that front, but we'd be very open to it," Ballmer said. Apparently, Microsoft is also open to picking off some of Yahoo's talent on an individual basis. Sean Suchter, Yahoo's VP of search technology, has resigned and is reportedly heading toward Redmond.
