After months of the on-again, off-again merger talks between Microsoft and Yahoo, during which doublespeak and obfuscation were the order of the day, it’s refreshing to hear some straight talk about what Yahoo is actually up to.
That comes from Google, which today announced that it will run its advertising on Yahoo’s US and Canadian websites.
IM clients too
AdSense for search and AdSense for content text and graphical ads will now run alongside any other ads Yahoo places, while the two parties are also working to make their IM clients, Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger, compatible with each other.
More importantly, the deal is not exclusive, meaning Yahoo is free to pursue other tie-ups as it wishes, something that should placate restless investors in the firm.
Plain speaking
Equally pleasing is the forthright manner in which Google explained the deal. Speaking on the Google Blog, Omid Kordestani, a senior VP, said: “It is important to say what this agreement is not: This is not a merger.”
Going on to clarify in minute detail, he said: “This does not remove a competitor from the playing field. This does not prevent Yahoo from making similar arrangements with others. This does not increase Google's share of search traffic. This does not let Google raise prices for advertisers.”
So, Yahoo gets to appear proactive, Google gets a shot at more ad revenue and website owners probably get a bigger slice of that money, but where does that leave Microsoft?
