Andre Yoskowitz
28 Jul 2009 23:59
According to a sources familiar with the discussions, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed in principle to an online search and advertising partnership that will be announced within the next 24 hours.
The partnership will better position the companies to rival the behemoth Google, who currently controls most of the market share.
The deal will focus on revenue sharing between the two companies, says AllThingsD. The deal also means Microsoft's powerful Bing search engine will power all of Yahoo's searches. On the other hand, Yahoo will be in charge of handling advertising sales.
As of June, Google's search engine was used for 65 percent of all US searches, with Yahoo lagging behind at 19.6 percent and Bing at 8.4 percent.
There could be a hitch however. "Any agreement where Microsoft powers search and shares the search data to Yahoo is open to scrutiny from US and EU justice departments," says Colin Gillis, an analyst at Brigantine Advisors, via Reuters. Anti-trust issues may be brought up as well.