Yahoo and Facebook have buried the corporate hatchets to settle their lawsuits and have agreed to form a broader partnership for licensing and internet advertising. The agreement settles the technology patents infringement allegations brought against Facebook by Yahoo. The new settlement between the two giants of the internet comes following Scott Thompson’s ouster, the former CEO of Yahoo over some inaccuracies found in his curriculum.
The new deal would see Yahoo and Facebook extend and broaden the current agreement between them that is multi-year. The new agreement allows users of Facebook to share content from Yahoo and includes patents being cross-licensed. The new plan allows involves a dual collaboration on advertising for big media events such as the upcoming Olympics.
Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg said she was pleased the two resolved the issue in a positive way and looked forward to entering in a close partnership with the Yahoo leadership. The leadership at Yahoo has had a troubled time since they refused a $44 billion takeover bid by Microsoft back in 2008. In the past four years, the company has seen a new CEO practically every year, without Yahoo being able to just settle on one for a permanent basis.
The lawsuit by Yahoo against Facebook only days prior to the IPO launch of Facebook drew much criticism as being a way to wring cash out of Facebook, when it was on the verge of going public. In March, Yahoo sued Facebook claiming Facebook had infringed on a number of its patents.
Included in that list of 10 patents were ones related to online advertising technology. Yahoo claimed in its lawsuit that Facebook was one of the worst sites for advertising performance. Facebook said Yahoo’s move was shortsighted and the countersuit it filed said Yahoo preferred litigation to innovation.
