WebProNews

It would seem that everybody who's anybody in the advertising industry wants the Microsoft-Yahoo deal to go through.  Today, the president and CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, along with the heads of all four major ad holding companies, signed her name to a letter of support.

First, a little background info: The AAAA has an extremely impressive membership roster, with Arnold, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Digitas, and Saatchi & Saatchi on its side.  Then there are the ad holding agencies - the Interpublic Group of Companies, the Omnicon Group, the Publicis Groupe, and WPP - to consider.

And in terms of the Microsoft-Yahoo debate, these organizations effectively went straight to the top.

Their letter was in fact an open one addressed to the U.S. Department of Justice.  They stated, "We believe that Yahoo! and Microsoft's proposal to combine their technologies and search platforms is good for advertisers, marketing services agencies, website publishers and consumers. . . .  These benefits are too important to wait for. As leading members of the advertising and marketing services industry, we urge the Department of Justice to bring its antitrust review to a speedy conclusion." 

A Yahoo spokesperson told WebProNews in response, "Yahoo! welcomes the broad support this deal has received, and remains hopeful that the closing of this transaction can occur in early 2010."