If you were anxiously awaiting the results of the Microsoft and Yahoo partnership agreement that was previously extended an extra 30 days to potentially review and revamp…
The results are in!
Last week Microsoft and Yahoo announced that they have revised their search partnership to improve the search experience, add value for advertisers and establish ongoing consistency for partners.
The update reiterates commitments made by both companies in 2009, when the original agreement was established. Both companies are dedicated to boosting the relationship while applying changes to keep it productive.
“Our global partnership with Yahoo has benefited out shared customers over the past five years and I look forward to building on what we’ve accomplished together,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corp. “Our partnership with Yahoo is one example of the diverse partnerships we’ll continue to cultivate in order to have the greatest impact for our customers.”
“Over the past few months, Satya and I have worked closely together to establish a revised search agreement that allows us to enhance our user experience and innovate more in our search business,” said Marissa Mayer, president and CEO, Yahoo!. “This renewed agreement opens up significant opportunities in our partnership that I’m very excited to explore.”
The update incorporates improvements in two main areas:
- The partnership is non-exclusive for both desktop and mobile. Yahoo will now have flexibility to improve the search experience on any platform, but Yahoo will continue to serve Bing ads for a majority of its desktop search traffic.
- Microsoft will become the exclusive sales force for ads delivered by Microsoft’s Bing Ads platform. Yahoo will continue to be the exclusive sales force for Yahoo’s Gemini ads platform. Incorporating the sales teams with those responsible for engineering will permit both companies to service advertisers more efficiently. They plan to begin to transition managed advertiser sales responsibilities in the upcoming months.
Some parts of the partnership remain unchanged. Microsoft exclusively provides paid and algorithmic search on PC to Yahoo. Additionally, Microsoft pays Yahoo a percentage of Bing Ads revenue delivered from Yahoo searches.
