online advertising

Microsoft says it has realized several key metrics it set for the Live Search cashback program it launched in May. The program was designed to help merchants maximize their advertising investments and drive more sales by providing consumers with a cash incentive to buy online.

Under the program, the money that participating merchants would otherwise pay to Microsoft for online advertising is instead passed to online purchasers. Microsoft's payoff is the additional search-advertising traffic the program generates.

If an ancient writer was alive today, he might post something like this to his Twitter account: "Hell hath no fury like a software giant scorned."

For much of the year, it looked like a proposed advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo would bring vitally needed liquidity of about $800 million to Yahoo. The economic downturn hit Yahoo particularly hard, with online advertisers moving away from banner ads to Google's more cost-effective text-based ads.

If an ancient writer was alive today, he might post something like this to his Twitter account: "Hell hath no fury like a software giant scorned."

For much of the year, it looked like a proposed advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo would bring vitally needed liquidity of about $800 million to Yahoo. The economic downturn hit Yahoo particularly hard, with online advertisers moving away from banner ads to Google's more cost-effective text-based ads.

A proposed partnership between Google and Yahoo for the sale and distribution of online advertisements has been a hot topic in tech circles this year, drawing scrutiny from privacy groups, European regulators and the Justice Department. Now reports are circulating that the long-delayed deal might fall apart.

In an article in the online version of the Wall Street Journal, reporter Jessica Vascellaro says that according to "people familiar with the matter," the companies might walk away from the deal as early as next week.

The top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee is joining a chorus of lawmakers urging the Justice Department to scrutinize the planned Internet advertising partnership between Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

Texas Republican Joe Barton also accuses Yahoo of resisting congressional inquiries into the deal. He said that many of the company's answers to his questions "seemed designed to obscure rather than clarify how the Google-Yahoo partnership would work."

Yahoo is laying off at least 1,500 workers in the wake of sluggish corporate profits. The layoffs equate to 10 percent of the Internet company's workforce.

Yahoo stumbled in its third-quarter earnings report. Revenues were $1.79 billion for the quarter, a one percent increase compared to the year-ago period. But operating income was $70 million, a 53 percent decrease from $150 million in the same period of 2007.

California lawmakers are speaking out in defense of the controversial deal between Google and Yahoo, which would allow Yahoo to use Google search ads.

Several policy-makers from Silicon Valley, including U.S. Reps. George Miller and Sam Farr, are asking the Department of Justice to think twice before stopping the agreement between the two Internet search giants.

California lawmakers are speaking out in defense of the controversial deal between Google and Yahoo, which would allow Yahoo to use Google search ads.

Several policy-makers from Silicon Valley, including U.S. Reps. George Miller and Sam Farr, are asking the Department of Justice to think twice before stopping the agreement between the two Internet search giants.

Web surfers can feel more secure about their clicks and Web purchases now that three of the nation's four largest Internet service providers have pledged to stop tracking users' behavior unless given permission by the user.

AT&T, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable officials testified Thursday before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that they would not deliver ads based on consumer Web surfing.

'No Immediate Plans'

The American Antitrust Institute said Wednesday it thinks the ad agreement between Google and Yahoo may be blocked because of antitrust issues. Norman Hawker, a senior fellow at AAI, released a white paper pointing out several anticompetitive issues with the agreement and provided suggestions.

The paper was released after AAI met with representatives from Yahoo and Google on a number of occasions, according to Hawker.