Yahoo and Microsoft make a deal
If it seems like it has taken years for Microsoft and Yahoo to finalize any kind of a deal, it almost has. But, at long last, the two say they have hammered out a deal in the key area of Web search.
The new search partners announced the completion of their deal yesterday. It seems like forever since the attempted takeover of Yahoo by Microsoft, with the Carl Icahn sideshow, but it has really only been since early 2008. That courtship made a lot of noise, but there was never a wedding, with somebody leaving somebody standing at the alter. This most recent deal got traction in July of this year, after which both parties said they needed more time to finalize it because of the “complex nature of this transaction.”
Though the two companies have finally sealed the deal, it still needs to be approved by the U.S. government. An article on CNET estimates that the final announcement was the result of hundreds of hours of legal wrangling and no little effort by CEOs Steve Ballmer and Carol Bartz, with lots of help from Microsoft’s Qi Lu. The two apparently signed the final agreement yesterday and are ready to move into the implementation phase, pending agreement from the government.
According to the (semi) final details, Microsoft will provide search technology to Yahoo for as many as 10 years, and will also gain access to Yahoo’s proprietary search technology assets and several hundred employees. Microsoft will pay Yahoo a significant portion of the ad revenue generated alongside those searches. The announcement did not give specifics about why the deal took so long to get to this point. The parties say that they look forward to rapid governmental approval which will result in the partnership going live before the end of 2010. One hopes that the technical details will not take as long to resolve as do the legal details.
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December 5th, 2009
Here comes the bloat. Here’s to another extinguishment of yet another well established company!