U.S. and Europe Approve Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal

February 20th, 2010

On Thursday, Microsoft and Yahoo received something they’ve been waiting for since July — a nod from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission on a search agreement that could help the companies compete with Google. With the regulatory approvals, Microsoft and Yahoo can implement the deal that calls for transitioning Yahoo’s search platforms to Microsoft.

Once the transition is complete, Microsoft and Yahoo will offer a unified search experience the companies expect will breed innovation and better volume and efficiency for advertisers. They also expect it to provide better monetization opportunities for web publishers with a larger pool of search queries.

“Nobody is going to see any immediate changes. The question is whether or not this will somehow challenge, damage or threaten Google,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “The answer in the near term is no, and we’ll have to wait and see in the long term.”

Read the rest of my story on Newsfactor.

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