New search deal for Microsoft and Yahoo?

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 14 Apr 2009 at 08:18

Microsoft and Yahoo have begun to hammer out the details of a potential search and advertising partnership, according to reports.

The reports come courtesy of the All Things Digital blog, which claims discussions have focused on a deal that would see Microsoft handling Yahoo's search advertising business, and Yahoo combining and running the two companies' display advertising business.

Microsoft and Yahoo declined to comment on the report.

Expectation that the two technology giants would enter negotiations over Yahoo's search business has been rising since Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, took the reins in January.

She succeeded Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, who beat back Microsoft's effort to buy all of Yahoo last year for $47.5 billion, souring relations between the two companies.

Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo chiefly to combat Google's dominance in the internet search arena, and CEO Steve Ballmer has repeatedly made it clear he would still like to do a deal in that area.

"Unless I'm fooling myself, over time I would expect there's a good opportunity for a deal," Ballmer told a media conference in New York last month.