Chairman Bill Gates talked about the Microsoft failed attempt to acquire Yahoo, and Windows Vista, among other things, during a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday. The bottom line is that the company he co-founded is currently pursuing its own independent path.

"Now at this point Microsoft is focused on its independent strategy," Gates said, per AP. He did not dismiss the possibility of other deals to acquire market share quickly. "Well, the key decisions on that will be made by Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer, who took a look at Yahoo and decided that on our own he likes the stuff that we're doing," Gates said according to the AP.

Microsoft's Chairman said in Jakarta that Vista saw a "very rapid sales rate," claiming that 140 million copies of Vista have been sold. Late last month, Microsoft has started to distribute Windows Vista SP1 automatically to the users who have the Automatic Update feature turned on.

While Yahoo's shares are plunging back and are expected to return to values recorded before Microsoft announced its unsolicited bid, its executives are in the hot seat for apparently ruining the chance for the shareholders to get a significant premium over the market value of their stock.

Microsoft announced that it has officially withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo. The portal company, in behind the scene negotiations, asked Microsoft to pay at least $37 per share, while Microsoft only wanted to pay as much as $33 per share. The initial offer was $31 per share, a 62 percent premium at that time of the offer over the market value of ~$19 per share.

Although Jerry Yang's strategy proved Yahoo has the muscle to withstand a hostile takeover, it remains to be seen whether shareholders will ask for his head on a platter after their stock value will drop significantly to around the pre-deal value.

Now the greedy shareholders are expecting to see whether Yahoo will go ahead to strike a deal with Google or another advertising company. Such a deal will relieve most of the pressure from shareholders, who are angry that they lost an opportunity to make a quick buck by selling off to Microsoft at a significant premium over market value.