Microsoft and Yahoo signed a ten year agreement for Bing to be used for all Yahoo searches. The deal started in 2010 and is now about half over. Included in the deal, however, was the option for Bing or Yahoo to make changes or even end the deal entirely after just five years (with a number of stipulations, of course).
Well, it is right at the five year mark so Yahoo and Microsoft have gotten together to discuss their current situation. At first it seemed that little to nothing was going to happen since the ‘window’ for changes was just 30 days long, starting on February 23, 2015. Interestingly, however, the companies filed with the US SEC to extend the time they had for these talks by an additional 30 days.
This seems to clearly indicate that some changes will be forthcoming, and that they aren’t likely to be minor. It is important to note that when this deal originally began both of the companies were run by different people. Microsoft at the time had CEO Steve Ballmer, and Yahoo was still being led by Carol Bartz. Today Satya Nadella is heading Microsoft, and of course Marissa Mayer is at the helm of Yahoo. Mayer has been publically critical of the deal in the past, so it may be that she is looking for a change.
The big question is, what will the changes look like. Yahoo and Bing continue to lag way behind Google in the Search Engine market, and they have really made almost no headway over the past five years. It doesn’t seem, however, that Yahoo has the systems in place to begin running their own search engine again immediately. Of course, knowing Mayer, she may even consider buying the Bing Search Engine from Microsoft. Yahoo, after all, does have huge cash reserves thanks to a number of savvy moves in the past. This isn’t likely, but it is something that could be on the table.
Whatever happens, marketers will need to keep a close eye on the situation over the next thirty days and beyond to see how it all plays out, and what impact it will have on search engine marketing.
