Yahoo/Microsoft: search no more

Yahoo has finally signed a deal with Microsoft. But dithering for a year and a half has hurt. Instead of selling itself for a chunky premium, the company has retreated from its core web search business, outsourcing it to the Redmond giant. This turns Yahoo into a company oddly reminiscent of internet also-ran AOL. The agreement will boost Yahoo’s margins. It will receive 88% of revenues from sending queries Microsoft’s way. And it can cut spending on everything from engineers to servers. The co...