Microsoft going it alone? Not exactly

Trying to parse Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' every utterance in search of clues about what Microsoft is doing next is a dangeous game. (Remember the recent Windows 7 date confusion spurred by a recent Gates' utterance?)

On May 6, headlines across the Web declared that Gates told reporters in Tokyo this week that now that post the abortive Yahoo acquisition, Microsoft plans to go it alone, without any other online services/online advertising acquisitions or partnerships. The problem? That's not what Gates said, according to company officials.

Microsoft officials just forwarded me the exact wording of the exchange between Gates and reporters:

Question (Noriaki Tomisaka, ANB): We heard in your speech that Microsoft will go individually regarding the Yahoo!. Since this merger didn't work out, your goal is to chase the Google by your own accord. Does that affect your strategy from now?

Answer (Bill Gates): Well, Google in many countries has a very high share of search market. We think that there are innovations that will take place in search. We are (the) company with the commitment to breakthrough software technology that can provide some competition. We really make sure that state of the art does get advanced and advertisers have good choices in terms of what they are doing with their interactive advertising. We will have a conference coming up, I think, in next month in Seattle called the "Advance". We will start to show you the next version of the search. Some of the things are very excited about with that. In courses, we make these advances when we invest in marketing to get word out there so that people try out our product. Fortunately, the search is very easy to type-in new your keywords and try out different product, we will give people that opportunity as we make the advances that will give people great choice there.

If Microsoft isn't insisting on being the lone cowboy, is it true that the company is in new talks with FaceBook about acquiring that company?

I received no answer from Microsoft on that one.

But if you thought a Microsoft-Yahoo tie-up didn't make a whole lot of sense, a Microsoft-Facebook one would make even less, I'd argue. What would Microsoft get from buying a social-networking site? Microsoft already has a $240 million investment in Facebook, as well as an ad-outsourcing deal with the company, so it wouldn't be another case of more online ad inventory (as Microsoft execs argued when they were hot to buy Yahoo). And Live Mesh already has its own Facebook-like news feed, so Microsoft can't argue that it is looking to Facebook to help it figure out how to integrate social-networking into its wares....

With whom will Microsoft partner and/or who will they (try to) buy next to strengthen the company's online systems/advertising business? I'm not sure, but I don't think Facebook is the answer. You?