Yahoo Signs Deal With Oracle To Attract New Users Via Java Installs

Yahoo hopes to repeat the success of last year's Mozilla Firefox partnership, which grew its search share in the U.S.

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Yahoo’s latest move to increase its search share and user base is a new partnership with Oracle that ties Yahoo to new Java software installations.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced the agreement at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday. A Yahoo spokesperson tells Search Engine Land that it’s a three-year deal, but the company declined to share financial terms of the partnership.

When desktop computer users download and install Oracle’s Java software, they’ll be asked if they want to set Yahoo as their home page and default search engine. The checkbox for that invite is turned on by default, which almost surely means Yahoo will add a number of new users without them even noticing.

Yahoo scored big gains in search share late last year after it replaced Google as the default search engine in the Firefox web browser. Yahoo eventually lost some users who went back to Google, but comScore’s May 2015 estimates show Yahoo with 12.7 percent of the U.S. desktop search market — a significant improvement from its all-time low of 9.8 percent last summer.

For Oracle, the Yahoo partnership replaces a deal with IAC and its Ask.com search engine.

(tip via Wall Street Journal)


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About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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