The two web giants just announced Wednesday that they will unite and work together to face one common competitor.
The 10-year term will still be subject to review by US anti-trust regulators but is expected to close in the early part of 2010.
According to a report from AFP, under the no-cash deal, Yahoo will be able to use Microsoft’s search engine Bing on its own sites and will act as Microsoft’s exclusive global sales force for their premium search advertisers.
Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10-year license to Yahoo’s core search technologies and will be able to integrate them into their own existing Web search platforms.
“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry,” said Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s new chief executive. “I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development.”
Microsoft’s camp also has only good words for the partnership.
“This really is a win-win agreement both for Microsoft and Yahoo!,” Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said. “Through this agreement with Yahoo!, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company.”
Care to warrant a guess what that “single” company is? 😉
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090729/tc_afp/usitcompanyinternetyahoomicrosoftgoogle
