Yahoo, under pressure from major shareholders and employees for not accepting Ballmer's proposal last weekend took a major hit yesterday as the company stock dropped faster than a pair of Fannie Mae's undergarments on sub-prime promise on prom night. Still, fortunately for Yahoo, there was some good news for Jerry and company today, as signs of a rebound looked possible on Tuesday, with Yahoo's stock closing up 5.54 percent at $25.72. Meanwhile, Ballmer's jilted proposal provided a somewhat muted response from the street, as Microsoft stock remained flat and struggled to get above $30.

It is widely believed that a great many of the Yahoo shareholder's and employees didn't really want the Ballmer deal anyway, and in the three month stand-off Yahoo has doubled its efforts to seek other options. Sue Decker, Yahoo's CFO suggests in her statement, that nothing was ever formalized as it was never in writing with Microsoft, which seems like splitting hairs, but Yahoo feels that there are many other options to consider. Even generating revenues from outsourcing search and display, with nemesis and arch rival Google, options that could quickly recoup the $2 bilion invested by Yahoo in their own proprietary system. This would, according to analysts, help make up for the apparent collapse with the Microsoft deal.

Who knows, perhaps Ballmer is bluffing with his lengthy change of heart "Dear Jerry" letter and they may still come back, but though breaking up is hard to do, he may have moved on. No matter what the eventual outcome, I feel that the courtship saga is far from over. Whether we like it, or not.