Ballmer to Yang: "Allow Me to Introduce You to Your New 52-Week Low"

Even after the relatively weak first-quarter showing Yahoo made yesterday, the Web’s perennial underachiever continues to claim Microsoft’s $31-per-share hostile offer “massively undervalues” it. And perhaps it does, just a wee bit. But then Yahoo’s shares were trading at just over $19 the day before Microsoft announced its bid for the company. Today they’re at $28.14.

And while Yahoo (YHOO) may have forgotten that, Microsoft (MSFT) certainly hasn’t. With the three-week deadline for Yahoo to accept its offer set to expire Saturday, Microsoft again called for Yahoo to come to the bargaining table. “We know what Yahoo’s worth,” CEO Ballmer said today at a Microsoft conference in Milan. “$44 billion is a lot of money. If Yahoo’s shareholders like it, that’s great. We are prepared to go forward without a merger with Yahoo. … Time is money, we’ve made that clear.”

Note that Ballmer doesn’t explicitly say Microsoft won’t raise its offer. But by suggesting the company is prepared to scrap the deal, he’s implicitly threatening to gut Yahoo’s stock price.