Dive Brief:
- Yahoo and Microsoft have amended a search partnership to allow Yahoo to show its own search results and advertisements on up to half of Web and mobile searches.
- Yahoo was previously required to display search results from Microsoft’s Bing on desktop searches.
- Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wants Yahoo to be able to again innovate in search, which accounts for more than one-third of its revenue.
Dive Insight:
Microsoft and Yahoo have amended their 10-year search agreement to allow Yahoo more freedom to display its own search results in Web and mobile searches initiated on the Yahoo platform. For the first five years of the arrangement, results from desktop searches were controlled by Microsoft’s Bing.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wants Yahoo, a leader in Internet search before Google achieved primacy, to become a player in search again, and particularly in mobile. Search represents 35% Yahoo revenue, and the company plans to sell desktop search ads across all Yahoo properties through its Gemini platform.
“Over the past few months, [Microsoft CEO] Satya [Nadella] and I have worked closely together to establish a revised search agreement that allows us to enhance our user experience and innovate more in our search business,” Mayer said in a statement. “This renewed agreement opens up significant opportunities in our partnership that I’m very excited to explore.”