The news of Microsoft and Yahoo!'s ad tie-up to create a more formidable competitor for Google has met with a mixed response among industry experts.
The deal which will see Microsoft power Yahoo!'s search engine was formally announced yesterday afternoon (July 29th) after weeks of speculation.
Analysts at FBR Capital, for example, called the deal "underwhelming", adding that Yahoo! may have missed out by failing to include a display component. But Yahoo! chief executive Carol Bartz said the agreement, which will be fully implemented in 24 months, contains "boatloads of value" for the search engine.
Meanwhile, Mark Sweney of the Guardian suggested that Google may attempt to block the Microsoft/Yahoo! search advertising agreement. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has previously stated that the firm expects to "face opposition" from Google before the deal is officially closed at the beginning of 2010.
Bill Tancer, Hitwise general manager of global research, noted that the combination of Microsoft's new Bing search engine with Yahoo! Search will make up 26 per cent of all searches carried out in the US.
This compares with Google's 70.6 per cent share of query volume, leaving all other search engines with 3.4 per cent.
