Finally, after a long haul, Microsoft and Yahoo has agreed to a search agreement that would bring Microsoft’s search technology into Yahoo search and Yahoo’s content networking within Microsoft’s clout. Yahoo and Microsoft has just announced their search and online partnership and it’s 10 years of shared revenue for both companies, are you excited?Well, frankly the deal didn’t come as a surprise to many of us. The negotiations has been going on for quite some time now. In fact, I almost thought it wouldn’t push through. But Yahoo, under the tutelage of Carol Bartz was only waiting for the right time. And that time has just passed.
To cut the long story short, as I know that you’ve probably read all about by now. The search and online deal’s main points are the following:
- It’s a 10 year agreement
- In those 10 long years, Yahoo and Microsoft will be into revenue sharing agreement when it comes to online advertising revenue
- Microsoft’s AdCenter will take in Yahoo’s Panama (I suppose)
- Microsoft will provide Yahoo with the search technology (obviously it’s going to be Bing’s search technology
- The deal does not include all other properties of Yahoo, only its search and online ad products/services
The question now is – will Yahoo rebrand its search engine to Bing? That remains to be answered. Microsoft would want this to happen in order for Yahoo Search and Bing to be counted as one entity when it comes to share market share. Only then can Microsoft leverage on Yahoo search market share.