Hard to tell if Yahoo really doesn't want to marry Microsoft, or if it's just playing hard to get. Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang told financial analysts that his company "is poised to capture growth in display advertising where we believe growth will be greatest."

The embattled company's CEO got public support from the chairman of Yahoo's board, Roy Bostock, who said the three-year plan laid out by Yang "provided context for our board's unanimous rejection of Microsoft's unsolicited proposal."

Yahoo claims the plan was drawn up even before Microsoft made its bid, but as one commenter on John Battelle's Searchblog put it, "Why has it taken them three months to release this if they presented the plan to the board in December? ... And as soon as the Microsoft offer game out, why didn't they release this report?"

TechCrunch has details of Yahoo's plan.

Yahoo could be making a case for independence, but it could also be making a case for a larger dowry. Either way, it's making Microsoft wait in the anteroom of tech bliss.