Software giant Microsoft has no plan to buy its small Norwegian Internet browser rival Opera Software, Microsoft's chief executive told Norwegian daily Aftenposten in an interview.
Rumors swirled in December that Opera Software could be a takeover target for Microsoft or U.S. Internet search technology firm Google.
"In the first place, I do not know if they would be interested, and furthermore every government in the world would have reacted strongly if we did it," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said at a consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, Aftenposten reported on Friday.
Shares in Oslo-based Opera Software, which makes Internet browsers for desktop computers and for mobile electronic devices, leapt last month on takeover speculation, hitting an all-time high of 25 Norwegian crowns.
