Google and AOL Ink Five-Year Search Deal

By Geoff Duncan September 2, 2010

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Internet giant Google and struggling online portal AOL have announced a new five-year deal that will see Google continue to provide search results for AOL’s network of content and services; however, the new deal will be expanded to include mobile search capabilities and YouTube.

“Today is another important step in the turnaround of AOL,” said AOL chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong, in a statement. “AOL users will be getting a better search and search ads experience from the best search company in the world—Google.”

Under the new deal, AOL video content will appear on Google’s YouTube video site, and AOL will share revenue with Google from advertisements that appear alongside search results on AOL’s sites. AOL will also bring Google search to mobile platforms as it “renews its focus” on mobile apps and content. Specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

For the most part, the agreement perpetuates a deal between the two companies that has been in place since 2005, back when Google put $1 billion into AOL in exchange for a a 5 percent stake in the company. (Time Warner bought out Google’s share of AOL last year for less than a quarter of that price as part of spinning AOL back out into a separate company.)

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