Microsoft and Yahoo have mutually agreed to extend the deadline of their 10-year search partnership by 30 days to re-negotiate the terms of the deal.
The deal was signed back in July 2009 under which it was mentioned that Microsoft would power Yahoo search, and Yahoo would become the ad sales force for Microsoft.
The deal was inked in 2010, which was reportedly an attempt by the two tech giants to combine their efforts to take on mighty Google, which continues to lead in the search market.
However, the partnership was not as fruitful as the companies expected as Google continues to dominate two-thirds of the US search market, whereas Microsoft and Yahoo’s combined share of the search market is roughly 30%.
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Yahoo and Microsoft mutually agreed to extend that deadline which expired on February 23.
According to the terms of the agreement, the companies had an option to negotiate changes to the agreement or to terminate the arrangement entirely after five years of signing the deal.
Reuters cited Yahoo as saying: "We value our partnership with Microsoft and continue discussions about plans for the future. We have nothing further to announce at this time."
