Sources close to Yahoo (YHOO) say the company would likely agree to an acquisition if the price is right. Trouble is, Microsoft (MSFT) doesn’t seem to be interested in one anymore.

Or at least that’s the way it would like to be perceived. Speaking at an event in Moscow, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once again feigned disinterest in an outright acquisition. “Yahoo was never the strategy we were pursuing, it was a way to accelerate our online advertising business,” he said. “We will spend money on some acquisitions. You can do a whole lot of things with $50 billion.”

You sure can. Like spend $47.5 billion of it on Yahoo, just as you planned to last month–even though, as BoomTown’s Kara Swisher reports, Chairman Bill Gates harbored little enthusiasm for buying Yahoo.

But that may happen yet. Some inside Microsoft say the software company would still like to acquire Yahoo, it just doesn’t want to pay the $37-a-share or so Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and Co. are reportedly demanding. And it may not have to, if Icahn and other ornery Yahoo investors like Legg Mason Capital Management (LM) force Yahoo’s hand.

Sources close to Yahoo (YHOO) say the company would likely agree to an acquisition if the price is right. Trouble is, Microsoft (MSFT) doesn’t seem to be interested in one anymore.

Or at least that’s the way it would like to be perceived. Speaking at an event in Moscow, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once again feigned disinterest in an outright acquisition. “Yahoo was never the strategy we were pursuing, it was a way to accelerate our online advertising business,” he said. “We will spend money on some acquisitions. You can do a whole lot of things with $50 billion.”

You sure can. Like spend $47.5 billion of it on Yahoo, just as you planned to last month–even though, as BoomTown’s Kara Swisher reports, Chairman Bill Gates harbored little enthusiasm for buying Yahoo.

But that may happen yet. Some inside Microsoft say the software company would still like to acquire Yahoo, it just doesn’t want to pay the $37-a-share or so Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and Co. are reportedly demanding. And it may not have to, if Icahn and other ornery Yahoo investors like Legg Mason Capital Management (LM) force Yahoo’s hand.

In a letter to investors, Miller said Legg Mason estimates Yahoo’s value to be in the $40-a-share range –quite a bit more than Microsoft’s bid for the company, which currently values it at about $28.91 a share.

We think this deal is a strategic imperative for MSFT, and that YHOO is in a tough spot if it wishes to remain independent. It has been reported that MSFT has been discussing a combination with YHOO for well over a year, and that it had been prepared to pay over $40 per share previously. We have no way of knowing whether those reports are accurate or not.

“Our own valuation work puts the value of YHOO in the range of those reported numbers, though, and we think MSFT will need to enhance its offer if it wants to complete a deal. YHOO shares were recently trading at a four-year low, and the stock averaged above the current offer price for all of 2004.

“YHOO is a uniquely valuable asset, and we expect MSFT will do what it takes to acquire it.”

Translation: Yahoo may not be willing to sell, but we are–if you sweeten your offer.