Feb 18, 2010 at 11:12am ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo and Microsoft announced they have clearance to implement their proposed search deal where Microsoft will power Yahoo Search and search ads. Today they received "unrestricted" clearance from both the U.S. Department of Justice (see here) and the European Commission to proceed. And proceed they will. Yahoo said the implementation will begin in the next "days." Here is the announcement: Implementation of the deal is expected to begin in the coming days and will involve transitioning Yahoo!’s algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft, with Yahoo! becoming the exclusive relatio [...]

Microsoft Extends Bing Search Deal With Facebook

Feb 5, 2010 at 12:40pm ET by Barry Schwartz

The Bing Search Blog announced Microsoft has extended their search deal with Facebook. In addition to extending the search deal, as expected, Facebook will drop Microsoft on the display ad side of the deal. The extended search deal includes a more robust Bing search experience on Facebook. This includes "richer answers combined with tools that help customers make faster, smarter decisions," said Microsoft. Also, Bing will power Facebook search outside of the U.S., to all Facebook users, worldwide. This will bring Bing search in front of 400 million or more Facebook users - a big win for [...]

Microsoft Earnings Beat Estimates Online Services Post Loss, More On Bing And The iPhone

Jan 29, 2010 at 10:59am ET by Greg Sterling

Microsoft had a "blow out" quarter in which it saw $19.02 billion in revenue, a 14 percent increase from $16.63 billion in the same fiscal quarter a year ago. This was largely about the success of PC OS Windows 7. That's the story: people like it and are buying PCs. Everything else is a bit more mixed. Online Services, which houses online advertising and Bing, reported $581 million in revenue vs. $609 million a year ago. Lower revenues translated into higher losses for the division. There was a quarterly loss of $466 million compared with $320 million a year ago. Bing is making steady in [...]

Ballmer Critical Of Google’s China Decision

Jan 22, 2010 at 7:10pm ET by Matt McGee

At a conference in Houston on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke critically of Google's recent decision to stop censoring its search results in China. Paraphrasing some of Ballmer's statements, Forbes says Ballmer called it an "irrational business decision" on Google's part. Ballmer suggested that Google's decision to no longer filter out internet searches objectionable to the Chinese government was an irrational business decision. After all, Ballmer said, the U.S. imports oil from Saudi Arabia despite the censorship that goes on in that country. "The U.S. is the most extreme wh [...]

Bing! Sues Microsoft Over Trademark Infringement

Dec 21, 2009 at 9:26am ET by Barry Schwartz

Small design firm sues Microsoft over Bing name from Ars Technica reports a St. Louis based design firm named Bing! is suing Microsoft for using their name. Bing! Information Design (www.bing.biz) is suing over "trademark infringement, unfair competition, and tortious interference with business expectancy." They filed their case on Wednesday, December 16th in Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis. The Simon Law Firm in St. Louis even released a press release on the suit saying, "For nearly 10 years my client has been using the Bing! mark," explains Anthony Simon. "My client selected thi [...]

Europe, Antitrust Powerhaus, Strikes A Browser Deal With Microsoft

Dec 16, 2009 at 12:57pm ET by Greg Sterling

Europe has generally emerged as a much more forceful player in anti-trust law than regulators in the US (despite their tough rhetoric). Some people believe, in fact, that in Microsoft's case Europe has treated the company with a very heavy hand and turned it into the equivalent of a cash machine, imposing billions in fines. Others might see Europe standing up to Redmond where the Americans did not. Now the EU regulatory authorities and Microsoft have struck a deal over browsers. The deal requires Microsoft to offer consumers the choice of many browsers on the Windows OS. According to the NY [...]

Yahoo, Microsoft Close Search Deal

Dec 4, 2009 at 6:16pm ET by Matt McGee

It's somewhat ceremonial, but also an important milestone: Yahoo and Microsoft have announced the finalization and execution of the search deal that was first announced in late July. The companies issued this statement: "Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value, and more innovation. "Yahoo! and Microsoft welcome the broad support the deal has received from key players in the advertising industry and remain hopeful that the closing of t [...]

Canada, Australia Give OK To Microsoft-Yahoo Deal

Nov 24, 2009 at 7:31pm ET by Matt McGee

The governments of Canada and Australia have given their okay to the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has published its findings, which say that "the proposed agreement was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition." The ACCC points to an existing deal in which Microsoft is using Yahoo's paid search platform in Australia, and says that the two companies' "share of online paid search advertising queries in Australia was limited." (Ouch.) The Canadian Competition Bureau has not yet published its findings, but [...]

MSFT Quarter: Revenues Down 14 Percent, But Beat Estimates

Oct 23, 2009 at 10:29am ET by Greg Sterling

Microsoft announced quarterly revenues of $12.9 billion, a decline of just over 14 percent from the same period a year ago. Adjusted revenue, which accounts for $1.5 billion in deferred Windows 7 receipts put the quarter at $14.4 billion, just 4 percent down vs. a year ago. Profits were also down. Online services (where Bing is housed) had revenues of $490 million and a $480 million loss vs revenues of $520 million and losses of $321 million a year go. The conference call is going to start in a few minutes but the company's slides highlight strong Windows (7) and Xbox demand. PC growth was [...]

Top Microsoft Execs Get A Pay Cut

Sep 30, 2009 at 8:28am ET by Greg Sterling

Appropriately top Microsoft executives, coming off the "worst year ever" for the company, are sharing some of the pain. As PaidContent reports, the top executives at the company took a compensation hit based on the sales and revenue declines. Here are some of the numbers: CEO Steve Ballmer $1.265 million vs. $1.34 million a year ago CFO Chris Liddell: $3.5 million vs. $4.8 million COO Kevin Turner: $5.4 million vs. $8.6 million Entertainment and Devices President Robbie Bach: $6.2 million vs. $8.3 million The snark impulse is pretty strong and I'm trying not to write something v [...]

Microsoft’s adCenter GM & Search Researcher Eric Brill Moves To eBay,

Sep 24, 2009 at 5:02pm ET by Barry Schwartz

eBay has announced they have hired Dr. Eric Brill as their vice president of research and applied science to lead up eBay's research labs team. Prior, Dr. Brill was General Manager of adCenter Labs at Microsoft and before that, he Director and Principal Researcher and head of the Text Mining, Search and Navigation Group at Microsoft Research. Microsoft has quietly pulled his bio page but Google still has a cached version. "Search is all about predictions, highly educated guesses about what people really mean when they type in a word like Diesel or a phrase like 'red, white and blue'," [...]

Gulli Leaves Ask.com For Microsoft Bing, Finally Has “Resources”

Aug 31, 2009 at 1:25pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Ten days ago, we reported that Antonio Gulli left Ask.com after 4 years heading up their technology team in the European R&D center. Gulli announced his new plans are to continue in search, but switch ships and work for Microsoft Bing. Gulli said he will be "leading all the engineering development for UX and verticals in Europe," focusing on Microsoft Bing's search technology and user interface. He will be working at Microsoft's London site of STC Europe nearby Carnaby Street. What I found most interesting about his announcement post was that he, in not so many words, explained that he [...]

BT/Yahoo Portal Now Powered By … Not Yahoo, Not Bing, Google!

Aug 27, 2009 at 2:02pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Those with BT broadband in the UK have noticed that the Yahoo/BT portal at bt.yahoo.com has a new search technology provider. You would guess that if Yahoo would replace their own search technology, it would be in exchange for Bing, in light of the recent news about the Bing & Yahoo deal. You would be wrong to think that because Google is now powering the search technology Yahoo/BT portal. Here is a screen capture of the search box that now says, "Powered by Google," taken from ConnectedInternet.co.uk, which tipped us to this: I know the Yahoo and Microsoft deal has not been s [...]

Google Tops In Search Satisfaction According To Pre-Bing Survey

Aug 18, 2009 at 8:50am ET by Greg Sterling

On an annual basis the University of Michigan puts out the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business report, sponsored and administered by Foresee Results. Among the things the index examines is consumer satisfaction with search engines. The survey asks a representative sample of consumers to rate their experiences with portals and search engines according to several criteria, which produces an overall score on a 100 point scale. Google is again on top in search with a score of 86, identical to last year. The survey is supposed to be predictive of future consumer behavior, as t [...]

Google Calls Yahoo-Microsoft’s Explanation Of Search Scale “Bogus”

Aug 14, 2009 at 9:34am ET by Barry Schwartz

One thing Microsoft and Yahoo were touting as a major advantage to them teaming up, is that their search scale will grow tremendously. The benefit of the search scale, or search volume query, growing is that Microsoft and Yahoo will have more data to analyze and use in order to compete against Google. News.com interviewed Google's chief economist, Hal Varian on this topic. Varian called that logic "bogus," saying that search scale does little, on a statistical base, to help improve search quality. Varian explained why in three points: Statistically, Varian said, that there is a "small [...]

After Buying Performics From Google, Publicis Buys Razorfish From Microsoft

Aug 10, 2009 at 8:45am ET by Greg Sterling

Yesterday Microsoft and French advertising holding company Publicis Groupe announced that the latter was buying agency Razorfish. Razorfish came to Microsoft as part of the $6 billion aQuantive deal, the largest acquisition in Redmond's history. As part of the deal Publicis will give Microsoft 6.5 million shares, amounting to a roughly 3 percent stake in the holding company. The total value of the deal is estimated at $530 million. Just over half of that will be in cash. According to a statement by Publicis CEO Maurice Levy, "Once this acquisition is complete, about a quarter of our revenue [...]

Micro-Hoo: The Details Emerge With SEC Filing

Aug 5, 2009 at 12:01pm ET by Greg Sterling

First to pounce on the SEC 8-K filing by Yahoo was PaidContent, which provides an extensive bulleted list of many of the deal terms not revealed last week during the frenzy of conference calls and articles that followed the official announcement of the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal. CNET also writes about selected aspects of the deal contained in the filing, specifically an "escape clause" (termination) for Yahoo (see below). And the AP has a short piece on how the deal terms require Microsoft to hire at least 400 Yahoo employees. Here are some verbatim excerpts from the SEC filing: Negotiat [...]

Can Yahoo Really Compete In Search By “Owning The Interface”?

Aug 3, 2009 at 11:53am ET by Greg Sterling

During the Yahoo-Microsoft conference call with CEOs Bartz and Ballmer and subsequent discussion with Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi and Yahoo's Hilary Schneider we heard repeatedly that although the two engines would share a single index and Microsoft would incorporate elements of Yahoo Search (e.g., Search Monkey) into Bing, Yahoo would continue to be different and vital in search. Freed from the cost ($425 million reportedly) and ongoing demands of the back end, it would "innovate" around the interface and search user experience. Many people in the industry were skeptical and shrugged it o [...]

What Micro-Hoo Might Mean For Local Search

Jul 31, 2009 at 1:19pm ET by Matt McGee

As the dust begins to settle on the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal, we're finding that this week's announcement raised as many questions as it answered. The companies told Danny and Greg that the agreement covers "web, image, and video search." But what about the many search verticals that Yahoo and Microsoft are involved in? These are areas that, if not technically covered by the "web, image, and video search" label, are certainly highly connected to those products. And they're likely to feel the impact of Micro-Hoo's plans in some way, at some point. One of those verticals is the Local/Maps [...]

Micro-Hoo Details: Q&A With Mehdi & Schneider

Jul 29, 2009 at 2:57pm ET by Greg Sterling

Danny and I had an opportunity to talk with Microsoft SVP Yusuf Mehdi and Yahoo EVP Hilary Schneider earlier this morning. Both were instrumental in the deal and will be deeply involved going forward. They characterized the parties' search integration as a long-term partnership, which implies ongoing cooperation and a high degree of collaboration. We had a limited time to get a range of questions out but we were able to get a bit more clarity than we had from just the conference call and press release this morning. Yahoo is going to be doing "premium search" sales. What is "premium searc [...]

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