When it was announced last September, Yahoo's deal to sell the majority of advertising to Bebo was a major boost to Yahoo. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it is likely to be lucrative for Yahoo. When Google landed the contract to sell ads around MySpace in 2006, it agreed to pay the News Corporation-owned site $900m in guaranteed revenue by 2010.
A Microsoft source said: "Yahoo is going to lose that deal - there's no way AOL will want them involved."
AOL is building its own ad network, Platform A, which includes a host of ad networks such as Buy.at. The success of Platform A is central to AOL's new strategy of focusing on becoming an advertising network, rather than a content destination and ISP. The addition of Bebo strengthens this ambition.
The fear for Yahoo now, according to observers, is that there is no strong social media property left on the market to buy that would pull it on a par with AOL, News Corporation or Microsoft. Analysts believe LinkedIn could be the next biggest social media site to be sold.
Shields added: "At the moment, everything stays the same. It is a two-year deal and we have a great relationship with Yahoo."
A Microsoft source said: "Yahoo is going to lose that deal - there's no way AOL will want them involved."
AOL is building its own ad network, Platform A, which includes a host of ad networks such as Buy.at. The success of Platform A is central to AOL's new strategy of focusing on becoming an advertising network, rather than a content destination and ISP. The addition of Bebo strengthens this ambition.
The fear for Yahoo now, according to observers, is that there is no strong social media property left on the market to buy that would pull it on a par with AOL, News Corporation or Microsoft. Analysts believe LinkedIn could be the next biggest social media site to be sold.
Shields added: "At the moment, everything stays the same. It is a two-year deal and we have a great relationship with Yahoo."
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