WebProNews

Steve Ballmer sees the Yahoo deal going down in one of three ways. His comments, noted on Silicon Alley Insider, confirm the same strategy the company has expressed in recent weeks:

We’ve got basically the three big options in front of us. There’s the friendly deal, there’s an unfriendly deal, third path is simply to walk away. Given it’s just a part of a strategy – if neither of those look good, we walk away. It makes sense at the price we proposed and I think it’s a good deal for Yahoo shareholders. It’s a huge premium, it’s one of the largest valuations.

Ballmer cited "structural things in the industry" as holding back Microsoft from gaining ground in online advertising. Overcoming this made a Yahoo acquisition attractive to Microsoft.

Gaining the portal gives Microsoft a lot more scale in a short period of time. Search engine statistics from companies like Hitwise, comScore, and others put about two-thirds of the US market in Google's pocket.

A combined Microsoft-Yahoo makes them a solid second place with roughly the other third of that market. Along with the search queries, Microsoft picks up Yahoo's advertisers.

"Yahoo’s not a strategy , it’s a part of a strategy. We’re interested to pay for it at some level and beyond that level we’re not willing to pay for it," said Ballmer. "I know EXACTLY what I think Yahoo is worth and I won’t go a dime above."