‘Microsoft and Yahoo are talking about cooperation again’

After months of radio silence, Microsoft and Yahoo are cautiously approaching each other again, the Financial Times reports. The starting point of the negotiations would be close cooperation in the field of search engines.

According to the British business newspaper Carol Bartz, who was appointed CEO of Yahoo in January, and Microsoft director Steve Ballmer are back on speaking terms after previous attempts by the software giant were rejected by Yahoo. The two are said to have had exploratory talks without concrete proposals being made. The talks have been confirmed by a person involved in the negotiations, the newspaper said, but both companies declined to comment on the reports.

This time, the initiative for the renewed talks would lie with Yahoo director Bartz. Her predecessor Jerry Yang had nothing to do with a possible takeover by Microsoft and was ultimately judged on that. Ballmer indicated after the failed takeover attempts that only a search deal with Yahoo would still make sense.

Although nothing has yet been leaked about the content of the talks, there is much speculation in the press about possible outcomes. Considered most likely is a construction in which the two companies merge their search engines in the hope of making a fist to market leader Google. It is possible that Microsoft and Yahoo would have Europe first in mind, because both companies do not have a strong position in this search market in particular.