There have been rumors and talk of Microsoft and Yahoo working a deal for sometime now, but there is now a tangible answer to all the hype. The summary of details taken from the press release are:
- "Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers."
- Microsoft receives the benefit of Yahoo!'s scale while Yahoo receives the benefit of Google's search innovation with Bing
- There will be a single platform and a single sales team, making things easier for premium advertisers and increases the overall marketshare of the combined effort. This makes for a viable advertising alternative to Google finally.
- Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated through Yahoo!'s content network
- Yahoo! will continue to own the user experience on Yahoo! properties even though they will be using Microsoft's search technology
- Yahoo! will continue to syndicate it existing search
- The agreement is for 10 years
“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry, and I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development,” said Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz.
Read the full press release at: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-29release.mspx
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