Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer has said that the software and internet company is intending to focus on a number of smaller acquisitions over the coming years, rather than big deals, Reuters reports.Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit, Mr Ballmer stated that the firm will look to make 20 acquisitions of between $50 million and $1 billion each, as opposed to "mega deals".
Although not commenting directly on any potential acquisitions, he told listeners at the summit that Microsoft's current focus is the "independent path".
During a question and answer session, he stated: "If at some point [non-independents] make sense, maybe then it makes sense. But that's not where we are going. We are driving in an independent direction."
"We'll probably buy 20 companies a year consistently for the next five years," he added.
When asked about reports that Microsoft is in talks to purchase up to five per cent of social networking site Facebook, he issued a reserved response, merely saying: "We'll see".
Earlier this month, Mr Ballmer told delegates at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando that Microsoft is still an "aspirant" in the fields of search and advertising, behind rival firm Google.
He commented: "In world search and advertising, Google is the leader ... We have a lot of work to do in search and advertising," CNET News.com reported.
Microsoft purchased 23 companies during the fiscal year ending in June 2007, 13 of which were valued at a total of $1.34 billion.
