At least publicly, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer is totally unmoved by Yahoo’s (NSDQ: YHOO) earnings. Speaking in Milan, reports Bloomberg, Ballmer said: “We are offering a lot of money… If Yahoo’s shareholders like it, that’s great. We are prepared to go forward without a merger with Yahoo.’’ You can parse the comment however you want, though he does say ‘Yahoo’s shareholders’, implying that the question will be posed directly to them. As for the part about going forward without a merger: Ballmer doesn’t want to sound desperate, and if he can make Yahoo shareholders a little nervous, that’s a plus.

Speaking in Morocco yesterday, prior to the earnings release, Ballmer pre-declared that whatever the results were, it wouldn’t affect Yahoo’s value to Microsoft.

-- Reuters offers some additional comments made by Ballmer: “We know what Yahoo is worth to us. We offered a lot of money: $44 billion, it is not a lot of euros anymore. If their board thinks that’s fair, great. If not, we’ll move forward.” Moving forward, again, presumably means that they’ll take it to shareholders. As for the ‘not a lot of euros anymore’ line, that’s anyone’s guess.

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