Microsoft, Yahoo! deal wins US antitrust approval
(WASHINGTON) - Microsoft and Yahoo! said Thursday their tie-up plan in the Internet search and advertising business had cleared US and European Union antitrust hurdles.
The two companies said they had "received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from both the US Department of Justice and the European Commission, and will now turn their attention to beginning the process of implementing the deal."
The European Commission earlier Thursday announced it had approved Microsoft's plan to acquire Yahoo!'s Internet search and advertising business, a move aimed at challenging search market leader Google.
"Once the transition is completed, the companies' unified search marketplace will deliver improved innovation for consumers, better volume and efficiency for advertisers and better monetization opportunities for web publishers through a platform that contains a larger pool of search queries," the companies said in a joint statement.
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