Faced with a revolt from angry shareholders who saw the value of their investments drop sharply after Microsoft Corp. [MSFT] abandoned its acquisition offer over the weekend, Yahoo! Inc. [YHOO] executives were doing their best spin control to deflect blame.

Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang told Reuters the company was in negotiations to find common ground with Microsoft when the deal collapsed, adding he would still be open to further discussions with the company. Yahoo! president Susan Decker (pictured), meanwhile, tells Tech Ticker that Microsoft never put a $33 per share offer in writing.

We certainly could envision a scenario where Microsoft got cold feet and decided to walk rather than negotiate further with someone who didn't really want to make a deal, so Decker and Yang's take on things could be completely accurate. There's only one problem with it -- by not getting involved in serious discussions even earlier, Yahoo! did a disservice to its shareholders, who are now left holding the bag and hoping Microsoft sees fit to revisit the offer.

Shares of Yahoo! were up more than 2% at $24.90, early in Tuesday's session, reflecting some optimism that the conciliatory talk from Yahoo! could get the two companies back to the table. - David Shabelman

See May 5 Jerry Yang interview from Reuters
See May 5 Susan Decker video interview from Tech Ticker
See May 6 post from Alley Insider