Microsoft’s hatred of Google is well documented. They hate them so much that they’ve decided to team up with on of the other “Big 3” search engines, Yahoo. In sports terms, this would be like the Red Sox annexing the Dodgers to team up against the Yankees. Pretty big!
According to Yahoo Tech, the 10-year deal announced Wednesday gives Microsoft access to the Internet’s second-largest search engine audience, adding a potentially potent weapon to the software maker’s Internet arsenal as it girds for an all-out assault against online search and advertising leader Google Inc.
Perhaps it’s just coincidence that this deal was struck around the Major League Baseball trade deadline, where teams try to trade for the best players to help their playoff push before it’s too late. Microsoft has put themselves in a make or break situation that all pretty much hinges on the success of Bing, and Google has had its foot to their neck for a while. So like an MLB team at the trading deadline, I think Microsoft may have struck a deal for a big-time pitcher that could get them over the hump just in time.
This could potentially help them take Bing to a new level, thus exposing it to a far bigger audience.
“Microsoft and Yahoo know there’s so much more that search could be,” said Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. “This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search.”
In return for turning over the keys to its search engine, Yahoo will get to keep 88 percent of the revenue from all search ad sales on its site for the first five years of the deal, and will have the right to sell ads on some Microsoft sites.
“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo, our users, and the industry, and I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development,” Bartz said.
Yahoo estimates the deal — which the companies hope to consummate next year — will boost its annual operating profit by $500 million and save the company about $275 million on capital expenditures a year because it won’t have to invest in its own search technology. That’s a lot of money!
In other words, lookout Google! Microsoft has the keys to a new car, and their looking to run your ass over!
loading...
