Department of Justice Scrutinizes Microsoft-Yahoo Partnership

Posted 09/11/2009 at 3:06pm | by Jason Barry

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The U.S. Justice department is taking a closer look at the proposed internet-search partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft. As a part of this contract, Yahoo would use Bing’s search engine, across its websites. Yahoo will sell ads to appear next to search results and the two companies will be splitting the revenue. The Justice department has asked for more details about the agreement from both parties so they might be able scrutinize all aspects of the deal.

Microsoft and Yahoo both expected a lengthy inspection regarding the antitrust laws in place. If/when the agreement passes inspection it could change the landscape of online ad-sales where Google has been the top contender tripling the U.S. sales of its competitors. There is a chance that the Justice department may question whether the move is necessary for a competitive market in online ad sales and alter the arrangement.

So what does all of that mean to the average internet user? The answer: not a whole lot. Search and text based ads are nothing revolutionary and the long term future of Yahoo search could be considered irrelevant compared to those of Google and Microsoft’s.

Image Credit: Daryl Cagle, msnbc.com