Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Gets Underway with 400 Employees
Carol Bartz and Steve Ballmer are probably pretty happy today. They are the two CEOs for Yahoo and Microsoft, respectively. Why are they probably happy? MicroHoo is getting underway. Google just agreed to hire 400 Yahoo employees as part of the two companies’ plans to share search advertising revenue. The deal goes like this: Yahoo uses Microsoft’s technology. Yahoo, in turn, attracts the advertisers. Microsoft pays Yahoo 88% (it’s like a B+) of the money it gets from Yahoo searches, and Microsoft has the right to use Yahoo search technology in its search platforms. All with a down payment of $150 million from Microsoft to Yahoo over three years.
Thanks to the old Bull Moose Trustbusting President
Teddy Roosevelt in the beginning of the 20th century, the deal is subject to antitrust regulators, who make sure that giants aren’t colluding to perfectly to eliminate competition. Something tells me the deal will be approved, because Google so dominates the market that MicroHoo will need some good collusion to claw their way back in a steep uphill battle.
Still, included in the deal is a clause that if antitrust regulators don’t approve the deal by July 29th 2010, the deal can be terminated. So let’s see what happens, shall we?
