China: Yahoo must uphold search partnership with Microsoft, says judge

A partnership between Yahoo! and Microsoft – which has Yahoo!’s search producing results from Microsoft’s search engine Bing – must be upheld in Taiwan and Hong Kong, a judge ruled.

US District Judge Robert Patterson Jr. ruled Yahoo! cannot back out of the alliance, inked to last a decade and signed in 2009. The partnership aimed to compete against search dominator Google.

The deal was made under former leadership for both Yahoo and Microsoft. Now, reports say Yahoo!’s current CEO Marissa Mayer attempted to slow the rollout of the search alliance within Taiwan and Hong Kong because she was unhappy with the deal.

Judge Patterson Jr. ruled that the search partnership must be implemented by October 28 in Taiwan and by November 11 in Hong Kong.

Reports say part of the reason Mayer wanted to delay the implementation of the partnership was to ensure that the terms of the deal would remain the same under Microsoft’s new CEO, following the exit of its current head Steve Ballmer.

According to reports, the search partnership was made following Yahoo!’s decline of a $44.6 billion buyout offer from Microsoft. The two companies have implemented their joint venture in 14 of their targeted 16 global markets so far.

Full content: Forbes

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