Analysts now expect Ballmer to use the money he had earmarked for the Yahoo acquisition to explore other possible deals with large Internet companies like Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and News Corp.'s MySpace and promising startups like Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. Microsoft already owns a 1.6 percent in Facebook, the second-largest social network behind MySpace.

　　But Ballmer is unlikely to be under as much duress as Yang because most analysts believe Microsoft's stock price will rise Monday. The shares had declined 10 percent to $29.24 since Ballmer made the bid, reflecting concerns that the proposed marriage would turn into a complicated mess that would enable Google to grow even stronger.