Microsoft and Yahoo Agree on Advertising/Search Partnership

Bloomberg Radio has confirmed that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz have issued a joint press release announcing the newly minted joint venture between both companies to compete against Google in search and ad sales.

As a condition of the deal Yahoo will be using Microsoft’s Bing search platform and integrating its venerable search algorithm with Microsoft’s Bing, with the initial agreement lasting 10 years.

Microsoft and Yahoo will maintain separate ad sales teams in order to increase sales in particular aspects of advertising and provide advertisers an alternative to Google. This deal follows in the wake of a failed purchase by Microsoft for Yahoo last year thanks to former CEO Jerry Wang and the former executive team which in turn led to their dismissal along with Microsoft relaunching Live Search as Bing earlier this year in a deluge of press and promotion.