The Yahoo!7 and Google search partnership is sailing ahead with the competition watchdog giving the go-ahead, for now.
AdNews understands the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a letter to both Google and Yahoo!7 which said that based on provided evidence, the organisation saw no need to investigate the deal.
Google and Yahoo!7 proactively approached the ACCC with the terms of their deal as part of the due diligence prior to finalisation. However, the ACCC can still launch a probe if new material or evidence was provided to the watchdog which suggested there may be an anti-competition issue.
AdNews previously reported either Mi9 or Microsoft would make a formal complaint to the ACCC in an attempt to thwart the deal.
Nine Entertainment Co. acquired Microsoft’s share of Mi9 earlier this week, which gives the broadcaster 100% ownership. Nine and Microsoft have an agreement which sees Mi9 continue to represent Microsoft ad products in Australia.
The deal between Yahoo!7 and Google means search results on Yahoo!7 will be powered by Google. Yahoo!7 will also transition the majority of its search inventory to the Google ad platform.
It has also bucked the international trend of partnerships between Microsoft and Yahoo!. Microsoft and Yahoo! signed a 10-year global deal where Bing would power Yahoo! search. The agreement was to include Australia until talks between Yahoo!7 and Mi9 broke down. Both sides have levelled blame at each other for failing to reach a deal.
The Yahoo!7 and Google deal is non-exclusive, which will allow the two to work with others.
The ACCC said it would not comment on private correspondence between the organisation and other parties.
This article first appeared in the 18 October 2013 edition of AdNews, in print and on iPad. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.
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