Peter Klein

Earlier today, we reported on just how little value Microsoft has received from its blockbuster $6 billion buyout of aQuantive. The story prompted one TechFlash reader to suggest that Microsoft just doesn't understand how to integrate acquisitions.

And now word comes from Microsoft's financial chief that the software giant is unlikely to do any big M&A deals in the near future. Speaking at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York, Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein reportedly said it was unlikely that the company would pursue another "mega acquisition," noting that those types of deals are "very hard to do."

Is that an indirect concession that the aQuantive acquisition -- the biggest in the company's history to date-- just didn't go as planned? Or is it a reference to the failed bid for Yahoo?

Maybe. Maybe not. But Klein's remarks are interesting because they suggest that Microsoft may be pulling in the purse strings just as the M&A market starts to heat up.

In fact, Google has been on an acquisition tear as of late. However, most of the deals -- including the company's recent purchase of Seattle online photo editing service Picnik and San Francisco document sharing service DocVerse -- have fallen below the $100 million threshold.

According to this chart, Google has purchased nine companies this year, including five last month.

Interestingly, a similar Wikipedia chart indicates that Microsoft hasn't made one acquisition so far this year, and completed just four smaller deals last year.

Klein has been on the job for just six months, so he was not involved in the aQuantive purchase or the company's failed attempt to buy Yahoo for $47.5 billion.

"We try and think ahead, so that when things happen there is not this big fire drill -- 'Oh my God, somebody bought something,'" Klein said, according to the Reuters report.