One Last Thing: Microsoft And Facebook Ink Search Ad Deal
This story was written by Joseph Weisenthal.
Do we have Google-MySpace Part II? WSJ reports that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will unveil a search deal with Facebook at today's analyst meeting.... Update: The news was just announced by Ballmer, speaking on state at the company's analyst meeting. Here's his exact words, and note he even borrowed Steve Jobs' famous "one last thing": "One last thing I want to talk about is an extension of our Facebook relationship where we are extending it to search and page search.
We will be providing an API to facebook where they will create a rich search experience for the facebook users and that is something that they will launch in the fall working with us. And it will carry both our web results, as well as our page search advertising. We are excite body using that as an opportunity to further expand the Live Search reach. That is what I have in terms of antiing up and focus our invention and reinvent the business model. Let me flip back to Steve."
Given Microsoft's outsize investment into Facebook, it makes sense that this might happen, which is an extension of the established advertising relationship between the two companies, goes back to 2006.
Right now, Facebook doesn't have general web search on its site, though the Journal says this will be implemented by the end of the year.
More as we know more.
By Joseph Weisenthal