As Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) tries to recover from the Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) bid, and even as everyone understands this will not be the end of the deal talks for either of them, Bill Gates said today that the company isn’t pursuing other deals now. He said in Tokyo that the company put “a lot of effort” in the talks with Yahoo and has decided the two should pursue “independent paths”, reports AP. This conflicts a bit from what he said in Korea yesterday, where he said the company wasn’t ruling out alternative partnerships after Yahoo.

Meanwhile, as part of the monthly laundry list of calls MSFT’s dealmakers make, one went out to Facebook as well recently, reports ATD (it’s buried down in the story). Microsoft owns about 1.6 percent of the social networking company, and would like a bigger stake. Facebook has said time and again it is not interested in selling yet, though some reality checks (read money and economy) might help change the mind.