MSN Renews Relationship With Rival's Overture

NEW YORK Microsoft’s MSN has extended its relationship with paid-search powerhouse Overture in the U.S. and U.K. though June 2005.

The deal puts to rest any uneasiness Yahoo! may have had about how MSN, one of its key rivals, would respond to its $1.63 billion purchase of Overture, which closed Oct. 7.

MSN and Yahoo!—which, according to Overture’s 2002 annual report, are responsible for some 60 percent of its revenue—had contractual clauses allowing them to terminate their relationships with Overture “upon a transaction in which our ownership undergoes a change of control,” according to the report.