Yahoo and Microsoft to Sign Search/Ad Deal

Rumors about a Microsoft/Yahoo! deal got a refresh late last week when it was reported that the two companies were discussing a possible search deal.

BoomTown last week reported that top executives at Microsoft (including Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President of Microsoft's Online Audience Business Group, search head Satya Nadella and top digital executive Qi Lu) have flown from Redmond to Silicon Valley to iron out the details of a search and advertising deal. Kara Swisher reports that the issues remaining to be resolved are something to do with deployment of technology.

Sources at both Yahoo! and Microsoft told BoomTown that if everything goes according to plan, the deal could be announced before this week is out.

Since the Yahoo/Google deal collapsed spectacularly last year, there's been little said about Yahoo's plans for a search or advertising deal with Microsoft. There was a brief mention of such a deal in April of this year but there were very few details available at that time. BT reports that this particular agreement would see Microsoft paying Yahoo several billion dollars to take over its search advertising business and guarantee certain payments back to Yahoo.

Whatever they decide, it looks like we're going to hear all about it this week. That said, don't forget that if the two do come to an agreement, it still has to make it past the Department of Justice's antitrust division, which was the reason Google and Yahoo's proposed deal didn't go through last year.

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