I love it when anonymous employees come to the rescue and quash (there’s that word again) some rumors. Not often does this happen, but it is usually is quite interesting when it does.

Speculation that Microsoft is interested in acquiring Nook Media has long been reported in the media. One such rumor came our way in March this year, and another was reported more recently, last week actually. Redmond was said to be ready to buy the Nook business for $1 billion.

But now a highly placed source inside Microsoft allegedly told Insider Monkey that the news, in fact, took the software titan by surprise. The employee added that nothing of this sort was in the works:

“This deal was nothing more than a rumor. Microsoft Corporation will not come out and deny or confirm for legal reasons, but the company has no intention of acquiring the Nook unit.

Nook is closely integrated with Android (hence their recent Google Play feature), and there is no way it could be ported to Windows 8. This was simply something TechCrunch rushed to report with no fact-checking.”

So there you have it, as best an unofficial confirmation as you can possibly imagine.

The source further said that while Microsoft was constantly evaluating its options, no such deal will happen in the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, rumors of the deal sent Barnes & Noble stock skyrocketing in just two days — from $17.77 a share to $23.31. Share prices have slowly settled to less than $20 a share now, but I guess the fact that Microsoft has already invested $300 million in Nook Media just fueled the fire.