Steve Ballmer, head of US software giant Microsoft, said on Tuesday latest quarterly performance results from the internet company Yahoo would not influence the price his company was prepared to pay for a takeover.

"We have a strategy for the internet that we are very excited about," he told a press conference, launching a new portal product, MSN Maghreb.

"We think we can accelerate our strategy by buying Yahoo and we will pay what makes sense for us to pay for our shareholders."

"I wish Yahoo all success with the results today... but it does not really affect what the value of Yahoo is to Microsoft."

In a takeover battle between the two internet giants, Microsoft issued an ultimatum earlier this month for Yahoo to accept its $44.6-billion takeover offer in three weeks or face a shareholder proxy fight.

In an open letter to the Yahoo board of directors Ballmer accused the company of avoiding serious negotiations over its unsolicited 1 February bid and warned that any further delays could result in a less attractive offer for Yahoo.

Analysts say Microsoft is betting that by combining with Yahoo, it can gain ground on Google's overwhelming dominance of the lucrative internet advertising sector.

A steady erosion of Yahoo's market share in online advertising made it vulnerable to cash-rich Microsoft's takeover effort.

AFP