Yahoo! Signs Search Ad Deal With Google
Yahoo! has ended all merger talks with Microsoft as it announces a search advertising deal with Google.
Yahoo! said that it ended the talks after Microsoft said in a meeting on Sunday that it was no longer interested in buying the company outright.
It added that a deal with Microsoft would have left the company without an independent search business, which it views as critical to its future.
The Google deal, which is in the North American market only, is likely to be scrutinised in depth by the US regulatory authorities.
It will see Yahoo! use Google’s search and advertising technology to display Google ads alongside its own search results in the US and Canada.
Yahoo will continue to operate its own search engine, web properties and advertising services.
Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google, said: “This commercial agreement provides Yahoo with the opportunity to deliver more relevant adverts to users and provide advertisers and publishers with better advertising technology to help them succeed in their own businesses.”
New research from Hitwise shows that Google search properties accounted for 87% of all UK searches for the four weeks ending May 31 2008 (see NewsLine).
Yahoo!: 020 7808 4200 www.yahoo.co.uk Google: 020 7031 3000 www.google.co.uk