Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Wants To Ditch Microsoft For Google

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has reportedly been unsuccessful in her attempts to quit a ten-year search-advertising deal with Microsoft in favour of a new partnership with Google.

Mayer made her first move shortly after she was appointed last July and apparently agreed a verbal deal with former employer Google on the condition that Yahoo was able to break free from Microsoft.

However, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer opposed any such arrangement, meaning the earliest Yahoo can exit is 2015, when either side can choose to end the deal.

Yahoo Microsoft search

The search partnership was signed by one of Mayer’s predecessors, Carol Bartz, in 2009, but revenues have not met Yahoo’s estimates. Microsoft will pay revenue gurantees to Yahoo until 2014 as consolation, but Mayer is keen to find a more profitable partner.

Publicly, Yahoo is committed to the relationship, but privately Mayer has been critical of Microsoft Bing, which she alleges has a fraction of the indexed web pages as Google has, while its search results are not as diverse.

Under Mayer’s tenure, Yahoo is currently undergoing a restructuring programme that has seen it overhaul its web and mobile offerings, close down services and make a number of acquisitions. It has launched a new social-oriented webpage and bought news app Summly from British teenager Nick D’Alosio.

Its attempts to expand its reach in overseas markets were thwarted by the French government however, after they blocked Yahoo’s bid to purchase video sharing site Daily Motion from France Telecom.

There have been signs of recovery at the troubled Internet giant after it posted its first revenue growth in four years in January, but first quarter revenues were below expectations.

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