Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company aims to pursue an independent path, focusing on up to 20 smaller acquisitions of $50 million to $1 billion each annually rather than mega-deals.
Armed with a cash pile of $23 billion, Microsoft has been rumored to be targeting acquisitions like Yahoo Inc, or social networking phenomenon Facebook.
Speaking to the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Ballmer would not comment directly on any potential acquisitions, but he said Microsoft’s current focus is the “independent path.”
