Even though Yahoo is still open to the idea of a Microsoft bid after silently rejecting them for so long, it seems that Microsoft now has a bitter taste in their mouth and doesn't want anything to do with the deal. Infamous Chairman Bill Gates said in a recent press release that Microsoft has no plans to pursue another deal, at least in the short term. Gates stated that Microsoft is focused on an independent strategy, seeking to boost their search advertising and online services without the help of Yahoo. His phrasing makes it sound that it was mostly Ballmer that pushed for a merge.

Yahoo shareholders have been upset at the board for continued rejection of Microsoft's deal, but Microsoft seems to be just as divided as to whether or not the deal was sound. Yahoo isn't struggling as Microsoft is in the search market, but Microsoft has a much larger capital to work with and a lot of other services to rely on.