Canada, Australia Give Thumbs Up To Yahoo-Microsoft Pact
By Scott Morrison, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)-Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) said Tuesday that Australian and
Canadian regulators have given a thumbs up to the Internet giant's proposed
search pact with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Web company said its proposed agreement with
Microsoft is still under review in other jurisdictions, but the company remains
hopeful the deal will close in early 2010.
"Microsoft and Yahoo have been notified that Australian and Canadian
authorities have separately concluded their reviews and have no objections to
our proposed search agreement," the companies said in a statement.
The partnership, under which Microsoft's Bing technology would power searches
on Yahoo Web pages, would shrink the search market from three big players to
two. The deal is under review by antitrust regulators at the U.S. Justice
Department.
Yahoo has said the deal would enable it to significantly cut costs so it could
focus on its display advertising business. Microsoft believes the deal will
provide it with the market share it needs to challenge search leader Google Inc.
(GOOG)
Shares in Yahoo fell 1.4% to $15.24 and Microsoft stock closed down 0.1% at $
29.91.
-By Scott Morrison; Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118; scott.morrison@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-24-091809ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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