Microsoft: Read My Lips: No Yahoo! Takeover

Either Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Steve Ballmer is trying to get Yahoo! Inc.’s (YHOO) shares as low as they’ll go, making for a cheap takeover, or he really means it: Microsoft will not buy Yahoo!.

"Let me be as clear as I think I've tried to be publicly: We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo," Ballmer told shareholders on Wednesday. "We have moved on." (Appreciation to MarketWatch for the direct quote)

Speculation ran rampant on Tuesday that Microsoft would court Yahoo! once again, thanks to the resignation of Jerry Yang, Yahoo! co-founder and CEO.

But no. Ballmer put the kibosh on those hopes, although he did say Microsoft might be interested in a “search collaboration” with Yahoo!.

Yahoo! investors didn’t like Ballmer’s statements one little bit. The Internet search engine company’s stocks had plunged more than 16 percent an hour before Wall Street’s close.