Apparently Microsoft and Yahoo are close to an agreement to work together. This soap opera’s been playing out for a long time, so I’m skeptical. However, BoomTown’s Kara Swisher quotes someone as saying, “It is down to the short strokes, for sure, it is just a question if we can finally close this.”

Here’s how the deal would work, according to Swisher:

“While BoomTown has gotten several different versions of terms of the latest deal, they all include Microsoft (MSFT) paying Yahoo (YHOO) several billion dollars upfront to take over its search advertising business and guarantee certain payments back to Yahoo. There is also a display advertising element to the deal, which would likely have Yahoo take the lead in selling premium advertising for the companies.”

Yahoo and Microsoft are meeting today. If the deal gets done, it’ll be announced next week.

Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
on July 17, 2009 - 10:26 am

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