Yahoo, eBay, You Need Me to Say Anything Else?

David Card | May 25, 2006, 08:13 AM

Back in the day, I used to say about the only thing that Yahoo had failed miserably on was auctions. (And maybe shopping.) This should fix that. And at Jupiter, we've been wondering for years just what eBay would do about advertising.

Very strong potential, with PayPal and search glue, lots of eBay ad inventory for Yahoo to sell, and a chance for the two to take a leadership position in pay-per-call.

Two great platforms that should taste great together. Unless there's some colossal screw-up in execution. And these are two companies that are very good at execution.

I'm thinking this won't likely look like Toys R Us/Amazon anytime soon, but that's where one set of risks might be: a lack of clarity on roles and terms & conditions. As with all big "partnerships," all bets are off unless two of the following pertain: exclusivity, money changes hands, products ship. This appears to be exclusive. (I haven't been briefed, this is an first take.)

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) and eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY) today announced a multi-year strategic partnership designed to mutually benefit both companies by better serving their user, merchant, and advertising communities in the U.S. The agreement consists of four major components in the areas of search and graphical advertising, online payments, a co-branded toolbar, and the opportunity to explore "click-to-call" functionality.