Something In Common(wealth): Canada, Australia Regulators OK Yahoo-Microsoft Search and Ad Pact

Fitz: Antitrust authorities in Canada and Australia have cleared the proposed search and advertising partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft, the two companies said late Tuesday.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in a statement on its Web site that after a 40-day review it had concluded that “that the proposed agreement was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the relevant markets.”

It’s unclear what kind of impact the Australian decision might have on the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s thinking as it reviews the proposed combination. The ACCC, for instance, noted that Microsoft and Yahoo already had a relationship in Australia, with Microsoft using Yahoo’s paid search platform. Compared to Google, too, the two companies had a “limited” portion of the nation’s search advertising, the ACCC said.

On the other hand, that’s the point Microsoft and Yahoo are trying to make with U.S. antitrust, too. Combined Yahoo and Microsoft make up not quite 30% of the market for search in the U.S. Google commands a 65% share.

Under the deal, Microsoft’s newly released Bing search engine would power Yahoo search, and Yahoo would get the lion’s share, nearly 90%, of the ad revenue it generates.

With the case still before U.S. antitrust, Microsoft and Yahoo had only a muted comment on the Canadian and Australian actions. “We continue to believe that this deal will create a true, competitive alternative in the marketplace that will benefit consumers, advertisers and publishers,” their joint statement said. “We remain hopeful that the agreement will close in early 2010.”