Yahoo Could Give European Search To Google

Outsourcing search advertising to Google has been suggested as a way for Yahoo to lift its flagging fortunes.

Yahoo is rumored to be ready to make a deal with Google in Europe. By outsourcing search ads on the Continent to Google, Yahoo could boost its returns on that revenue stream.

The potential for this deal to happen emerged as part of the swirl of discussion surrounding Microsoft’s unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo. CEO Jerry Yang reportedly wants to do nearly anything that would keep the company he co-founded out of Microsoft’s hands.

A Wall Street Journal report said Yahoo has been negotiating recently with Google over the European search ad outsourcing possibility. Antitrust concerns could kill that deal, and probably make it a non-starter in the US thanks to Google’s dominance of the search ad market.

Even if approved, that may not be enough to make shareholders happy. Institutions hold 75 percent of Yahoo’s publicly traded shares. How can Yang tell them giving up a 62 percent premium on those shares would be a good idea?

We won’t learn anything new from Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen. Reuters said the executive canceled a previously scheduled presentation in San Francisco at a tech investor conference.

He may have more pressing concerns these days.