Yang also said he's disappointed that the DOJ adopted such a negative attitude towards the Google deal, saying the government failed to properly understand the implications of the agreement. He also expressed disappointment that Google opted to give up.

Still, Yang was optimistic that Yahoo will be able to snap out of its technology and financial funk through the ambitious projects it is engaged in. He mentioned Y OS, the initiative to open Yahoo services up more broadly to outside developers and to create for end users a single dashboard to manage their Yahoo services and online activities in general. He also cited its new APT advertising platform, designed to simplify the buying and selling of ads for marketers and publishers.

Yet, the conversation circled back to Microsoft and the acquisition that wasn't. Yang reiterated his willingness to sit down an talk, even about a search partnership. In June, after walking away from the acquisition bid, Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo's search business, but Yahoo opted for the more limited deal with Google. "With Microsoft, if they want to buy the whole company, we're around for that," Yang said.

"As far as a search deal goes, we're very open-minded about it," he added.

In June, Yahoo determined that Microsoft's offer to buy its search business wasn't in its best interest. But today? "It doesn't mean we won't do one. As we go through thinking about where we want to take the company in the future, we remain open to everything," he said.