Yahoo and Microsoft will couple against alpha-male search engine Google. After several years of negotiations, offers, withdrawals, and hesitations, the companies finally worked out a 10-year deal in July of this year. Google was required to pay no upfront dowry, and eventually have full access to Yahoo’s search power for use in new search engine Bing.
As expected, the proposition has been met with much scrutiny from the Justice Department and antitrust regulators. Microsoft and Yahoo together hold only about a quarter of the search market in Google’s great shadow. All eyes are on two companies now as they work out the details. And we can only hope their union will not be as rocky as their courtship.
