Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to merge their search technology and advertising operations, with Microsoft’s Bing engine powering Yahoo’s search and Yahoo handling worldwide search advertising for both companies.

“Providing a viable alternative to advertisers, this deal will combine Yahoo and Microsoft search marketplaces so that advertisers no longer have to rely on one company that dominates more than 70 percent of all search,” the companies said in a joint release on Wednesday. (Google currently has about 70 percent share of the search market, according to web-analytics firm Compete.) Continue reading »