Microsoft-Yahoo deal approved

Microsoft and Yahoo said on Thursday that the US Department of Justice and the European Commission have approved the companies' agreement to merge Yahoo's search platforms into Microsoft's business. The deal was struck last summer and as no restrictions have been placed upon the approval, the two will begin implementing the deal over the next few days. Once unified, the resulting search marketplace is expected to more closely compete against Google's dominance in the market.

The deal will see Yahoo receiving the same search result listings as Bing, with Yahoo building custom content for its subscribers related to them. The transition is expected to be completed before year's end in the US, while the global changes should be in place by early in 2012.

Once complete, Yahoo will focus on providing consumer support to high-volume advertisers, agencies and resellers, while Microsoft will cater to self-service advertisers.

By Electronista Staff