Just made official, the deal that’s been years in the making has finally been made. In the deal Yahoo’s search will now be done by Microsoft, using the same technology in Bing. This effectively means Microsoft have bought they’re way to 2nd position in the search engine (read: advertising) space online.
Both companies are referring to the deal as a Partnership / Agreement, which they say will have benefits to both businesses. While Microsoft is handling all the search technology, Yahoo’s side of the deal is the handling of all advertising sales, which of course both companies will take a cut. What percentage each gets is not disclosed.
There is one caveat to all this. “The transaction will be subject to regulatory review”. Assuming that does happen, it’s expected the deal will be finalized early 2010.
The terms of the deal stipulate this is a 10 year arrangement.
Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO) talks about the search deal.
Carol Bartz (Yahoo! CEO) talks about the search deal
You can read all the detail over @ http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com/thedeal/pressroom/Default.aspx
