Government Elects MicroHoo Chief Google Catcher (Plus Bartz Videos on the Deal Approval)

Even the Justice Department gets it. It said the MicroHoo deal is pretty much about catching Google. But with a combined market share at less than half of Google’s, of course, that is an awfully tall marching order for the search and online advertising partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo, which just got the government’s seal of approval.

Of Course the EC is Going to Approve the Microsoft-Yahoo Deal. Have You Seen Their Combined Search Market Share?

Microsoft will soon be one step closer to becoming the exclusive provider of search on Yahoo. The European Commission is preparing to green-light the landmark deal. “I expect clearance without any concessions next Friday,” sources familiar with the situation tell Reuters.

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo's Carol Bartz–Deal-Making: Incomplete

Sorry for the break in grading Yahoo’s Carol Bartz on her one-year anniversary as CEO. But BoomTown was swanning around the Sundance Film Festival in Utah this weekend, went partying with those boozy Hollywood types and ended up in Provo with the crazy gals from “The Runaways”! I wish! Actually, running away from issuing any grade for deal-making for Bartz is a pretty good way to put it. Because today, after much thought, I have to give the Yahoo leader an incomplete for deal-making.

MicroHoo Signs on the Dotted Line: Final Agreement Done

Microsoft and Yahoo finally dotted all their i’s and crossed all their t’s today on the final agreement for their search and online advertising partnership. Somewhere a lawyer got his briefs. No one but tech reporters and hair-trigger Wall Street analysts care, but the pair had to extend the deadline for inking the formal deal because it was so darn complex!

Crikey! Eh? Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Cleared in Australia and Canada.

They’re grinning like a shot fox up at Microsoft today now that the company’s advertising partnership with Yahoo has been cleared by antitrust regulators in Australia and Canada.

MSN Head Greg Nelson Moves to MicroHoo Integration Role (Yahoo Picks Morrissey)

Greg Nelson, who has had the thankless job of running MSN for Microsoft, has left that position and been given the even more thankless task of running the integration of the complex search and online advertising partnership struck by the software giant and Yahoo. Nelson’s counterpart at Yahoo, according to sources, will be Mark Morrissey, who is currently SVP of Products at the Internet giant. The pair–pictured above, with Morrissey on left, Nelson on right–will have their hands full in what will ultimately be a two-year effort. BoomTown’s title for the relationship: A Couple of White Geek Guys Sitting Around Arguing!

Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester Talks About MicroHoo and More!

While in Washington, D.C., BoomTown can’t just visit the policy wonks from Internet companies, so I paid a visit to Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group that works to promote privacy and protection online. In other words, a professional–and much needed–thorn in the side of Facebook, Google and these days, MicroHoo.

Exclusive: Yahoo and Microsoft Poised to Finally Sign Definitive Search and Ad Agreement

Yahoo and Microsoft are poised to finally sign the definitive agreement that will govern the complex and far-reaching search and online advertising partnership they struck in late July, said sources close to the situation. If all goes well, the various Microsoft and Yahoo execs–who have been ferreted away over the last weeks, busy dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s in the massive document–could even turn in the delayed deal homework to their bosses for signature by the end of the week.

It's Complicated, but MicroHoo Hasn't Fallen and Will Get Up (Now, Lay Off Jerry Yang)

In what should come as a shock to almost no one, the detailed negotiations to complete the Microsoft and Yahoo search and online advertising final agreement are more complicated than its authors anticipated and are taking longer than expected to complete. Relax, folks–they’ll get done. But here’s a more important thing that should wrap up sooner than later: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s gibes about former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang’s tenure.

MicroHoo Answers Some Deal Questions for Critic: A Q&A!

Yesterday, BoomTown wrote about the status of the regulatory investigation for the Microsoft-Yahoo search and online advertising pact, which most expect to get approved. One of the few vocal critics of the deal, though, is Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a public interest group, who lobbed MicroHoo some important questions. Here are the answers.

Yahoo Gag Reel