Yahoo formally rejected a proposal from Microsoft and Carl Icahn in a statement issued on Saturday.

They had been given 24 hours to reach a decision by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Friday night. They reached a decision, but probably not the one that Ballmer and Icahn were looking for.

Yahoo says that its advertising deal with Google offers "superior financial value, reports Kyung Bok Cho at Bloomberg. 

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock has said that the alliance between Microsoft and Icahn has "anything but the interests of Yahoo’s stockholders in mind…it’s ludicrous to think that our board could accept such a proposal".

Microsoft had recently said that it could no longer negotiate with Yahoo’s current board, and it appears that this has been proven to be an accurate statement.

Ballmer and Icahn have yet to get the final words out on the matter. Nobody seems to be able to reach them for comment, though I’m sure that will change in the near future.

Meanwhile, Google should be happy with Yahoo’s decision not to sell Microsoft their search business.