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The £2 million UK media planning and buying account was held by

Optimedia, which pitched for the pan-European business against OMD and

Carat. Pitches were conducted speedily before the New Year (±±¾©Èü³µpk10, 14

December 2001) after Yahoo! decided it wanted one agency across

Europe.

OMD Europe handled the account in the majority of European markets. Fru

Hazlitt, Yahoo!'s European sales and marketing director, ran the

review.

UK creative will continue to be handled by HHCL & Partners which has

developed television and press work in recent years. Yahoo!'s

advertising activity in the UK has included its sponsorship of Channel

5's nightly movie slot with a series of eccentric gerbil idents by

HHCL.

Last month Yahoo! released better-than-expected fourth-quarter results,

posting a net loss of £6 million. Its president and chief

operating officer, Jeff Mallett, announced that he would be leaving in

April to pursue other business interests.

Yahoo! recently partnered with the search engine Espotting to offer a

pay-per-click search service to advertisers. It has also signed a deal

with First Direct that will see the bank take over Yahoo!'s homepage for

a day.

Last year Yahoo! won the brief of offering official Fifa internet

packages around the World Cup.

A Yahoo! spokeswoman said: "Yahoo! is negotiating with agencies but

there is no decision to announce as yet."