I’m reeling from a 12 hour (yes, 12 hour) trip from Chicago to SF last night but this morning’s news must be at least noted, for now: Yahoo and eBay are hooking up, clearly a move against Google – eBay accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars in Google’s revenue. From what I can make out, however, this deal does not change eBay’s relationship with Google, rather, it marks Yahoo’s first major syndication win in years. From USA Today:
Under the deal, Yahoo will be exclusive third-party provider of all graphic ads throughout eBay’s auction site. Yahoo has also chosen EBay’s online payment system, PayPal, to allow its customers to pay for Yahoo Web services.
It’s tempting to say Google loses here, and while I am sure the company would love to have eBay’s site amongst its syndicated partners (like AOL and Ask), I am not surprised in the least that Yahoo won this round. The market tends to balance itself, and this is a major proof point.