Ballmer still claims Microsoft might walk away from Yahoo

On May 1, Microsoft held an internal Town Hall meeting, largely (but not exclusively) focused on the company's bid for Yahoo. Silicon Alley Insider Henry Blodget managed to dial into the call long enough to hear CEO Steve Ballmer say the sky's not the limit for Yahoo.

According to Blodget's transcript, Ballmer told the troops:

"We’re interested to pay for it (Yahoo) at some level and beyond that level we’re not willing to pay for it. I know EXACTLY what I think Yahoo is worth and I won’t go a dime above."

Then Blodget got knocked off the call. Darn! (Blodget still managed to get lots of good sound bites, including Ballmer admitting Microsoft has no plans to extend the OEM life of XP, in spite of his confusing comments on the topic.)

Come on, though. Is there anyone who thinks Microsoft really is going to walk, at this point? This is just more posturing -- just like Yahoo claiming it will do an ad deal with Google -- and the press/blogging community are nothing but pawns.

I bet word comes down on this Friday May 2. After all, Microsoft made the initial announcement of its takeover plan for Yahoo three months ago on a Friday (February 1). And I bet Microsoft is going to end up buying Yahoo for a few bucks more per share than it offered -- which isn't trivial, given that every dollar it increases its bid above $29 increases the total cost of the deal by about $1.3 billion.

Based on what Microsoft has shared about its motivations for buying Yahoo, I still think the deal is a horrible idea. What's your take? Is MicroHoo a forgone conclusion?