Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer, seen here in May 2008, on Wednesday ruled out making another takeover bid for Yahoo but said the US software giant remains open to a partnership on Internet search.

Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer on Wednesday ruled out making another takeover bid for Yahoo but said the US software giant remains open to a partnership on Internet search.

Ballmer, speaking at an annual shareholders meeting in Washington state two days after Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang announced he was stepping down at the pioneering Internet firm, said Microsoft had "moved on."

"Let me be as clear as I think I've tried to be publicly," Ballmer said. "We are done with all acquisitions, discussions with Yahoo. I've said that a bunch of times. Somehow some people have gotten confused nonetheless."

Yahoo co-founder Yang earlier this year rejected a 47-billion-dollar bid by Microsoft for his company, earning the disapproval of many shareholders and contributing to his decision to step aside as chief executive.

"We did our best," Ballmer said of the takeover offer for Yahoo. "We thought we had something that made sense. Didn't make sense to them. We've moved on.

Ballmer said it would be "an interesting possibility to look at a search collaboration with Yahoo as we had proposed last summer.

"There's no active discussion on that front," he said. "But we'd be very open to it. But acquisition discussions are finished."

Yahoo's share price, which rose on Tuesday following Yang's departure, was down 18.39 percent at 9.39 dollars around 1828 GMT following Ballmer's remarks. Microsoft was off 3.52 percent at 18.93.

© 2008 AFP