The Microsoft - Yahoo Search Deal Likely to Get Approval in the EU

The Yahoo Microsoft deal is one step closer to becoming a reality after several months of slow progress. The European Commission, which regulates major mergers and business deals in the EU, has set a February 19 deadline for itself to decide on the matter. The EC is largely expected to approve the search deal under which Microsoft will take over Yahoo's search business but make its decision known on Friday.

The two major tech companies have announced plans to enter a 10-year deal under which Microsoft will handle all of the search features on Yahoo Search and other Yahoo proprieties. Yahoo will maintain its custom look and will be able to personalize the experience, but the underlying technology and results will be served by Microsoft's latest search engine Bing. Effectively, the deal would see the merger of the second and third largest search engines globally leading to some anti-trust concerns.

However, with Google owning 65 percent of the market in the US and over 70 percent around the world, the two, even combined, are hardly a threat. Based on the latest figures, a combined Yahoo and Bing search engine would have about 28 percent market share in the US and an even smaller one globally. This has calmed most concerns and it is very likely that the EC will have no objections to the deal.

Last Friday was the last day that the EC could ask Microsoft for further details on the proposed deal. There are reports that it hasn't done so indicating that it may be inclined to approve the deal. This would move the deal further, but it would not guarantee that it would get implemented as the two companies are still waiting on the approval from the US Department of Justice. It is likely that the DoJ will approve the deal without objections too. Even then, it will be a while until Yahoo actually starts using the Bing backend as there are still some major technical hurdles to overcome.