WebProNews

According to the latest AdGooroo numbers, advertisers weren't too thrilled with the three major search engines these past few months.  MSN got hammered, Google was hurt, and surprisingly, Yahoo came out on top.

"While Yahoo managed to hang on to its advertiser base (+0.03%) and Google showed a small decline (-6.4%), we observed nearly a 20% drop in MSN's active client count in Q1," claims the new report.

 Yahoo Does Well In 12-Month Comparison

Also, believe it or not, "Of the three major search engines, only Yahoo has held onto its gains made over the past year."

Remember when comScore's data seemed to predict an ugly fate for Google?  It was AdGooroo that hit closer to the positive reality.  So these statistics may give Jerry Yang a bit of bargaining power as Carl Icahn and Steve Ballmer continue their attack.  It may also give Eric Schmidt and Patrick Pichette, Google's new CFO, a few reasons to worry.

Google and Microsoft should announce their second-quarter financial results on July 17th.  Look for Yahoo to follow on August 1st, and all sorts of discussions and rumormongering will undoubtedly take place before either of those dates.