Archive: June, 2008

Google and Yahoo! entered into a four-year advertising agreement yesterday that will place Google AdWords on Yahoo! web properties in the United States and Canada. The agreement, which is renewable for two, three-year periods, gives Yahoo! the ability to display higher converting Google advertising in place of Yahoo! Search Marketing ads.

The terms of the agreement are non-exclusive, which allows Yahoo! to display advertising culled from any ad-network, including (if it wanted to), Microsoft’s AdCenter or its own Panama marketplace.

The agreement lets Yahoo! pick the search and pages on which Yahoo! might display Google advertising and even allows Yahoo! to mix and match ads pulled from AdWords and Panama. It does not extend into the realm of natural or organic search.

In a press release issued by Yahoo!, CEO Jerry Yang said, “We believe that the convergence of search and display is the next major development in the evolution of the rapidly changing online advertising industry. Our strategies are specifically designed to capitalize on this convergence — and this agreement helps us move them forward in a significant way. It also represents an important next step in our open strategy, building on the progress we have already made in advancing a more open marketplace.”

Signs one works too much #17:

It’s six fifteen in the morning and you’re at your computer working. Your cat looks at you and says in the serious voice all cats have, “You know, anyone who envies your lifestyle is probably still sleeping.”  You agree with the cat and get back to work.

Microhoo is not going to happen. This time, it’s officially over.
The deal Yahoo! repeatedly turned down was killed by a press release issued by Yahoo! earlier today. Though deader than a doornail, the defunct deal saddled both firms with chains as heavy as those Marley’s ghost carried. Buckets of blood have been spilled on the floor and ill-will stalks the great halls of finance and tech. The fallout is coming and after such a protracted and intensely acrimonious battle, that fallout is probably going to be ugly. Today, we start to learn what real days of reckoning look like.

This is not a good day to hold share in Yahoo!. If you live in Europe, it started OK but quickly started to degenerate just after noon when Yahoo! announced the conclusion of talks with Microsoft. The smart ones who had their broker’s number on speed dial might have stood a chance. They can be counted among the lucky.

20 minutes from now, Yahoo! and Google are going to issue a joint announcement, likely regarding a partnership of some sort or another. While details remain sketchy at this moment, rumour suggests that Yahoo! will be outsourcing Yahoo! Search Marketing (their PPC arm) to Google. Others suspect the deal will be far larger with Yahoo! ceding all their search business to Google.

Yahoo! shares took a nose dive today, falling close values not seen since the pre-Microsoft offer days back in January. Shares are trading (at the time of this posting) at $23.52/share, down 10% from this morning’s opening valuation of $26.33.

The announcement is coming soon so expect an update.