The company issued a terse statement to media around mid-day: "Our position hasn't changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo; there are no discussions between the companies."

Ballmer's words alone were a decent deal for Yahoo shareholders, who saw the stock rise US$2.19 per share in just more than 60 minutes following the CEO's remarks during his appearance at the Gartner Symposium in Florida. In the same time frame, Microsoft stock was up $2.10.

Ballmer has a history of using his tongue to nudge the stock market. In 1999, a group of technology journalists that tech stocks were overvalued and lumped Microsoft in that group, even saying the value of his company's stock should be "less."

Microsoft stock lost 5.1% that day; it was estimated that Ballmer lost billions on paper, given his stock holdings in the company. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed down 108 points or 3.77%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 205.48 points, and the market shuddered instinctively as other indices also fell.

At the Gartner conference Thursday, Ballmer said it is clear Yahoo did not want to sell, and added that there might be continuing opportunities to talk about search. After the talks between the two , Microsoft investigated just buying the search business from Yahoo.