Google adds MySpace to friends list
Google is among the largest internet companies in the world
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Tuesday, 08, Aug 2006 10:23
Google has signed a deal to provide search and advertising services for online community website MySpace and a number of other sites owned by the News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media business.
Confirmation of the agreement ends speculation about which internet search provider would serve MySpace, the social networking website that now boasts almost 100 million users. Yahoo and MSN were had both reportedly been in the running to service the site.
Under the terms of the deal, Google will pay Fox at least $900 million (£472 million) in revenue sharing payments over almost four years, providing certain web traffic targets are met.
The internet giant will provide both search facilities and text-based advertising to MySpace member sites and more than a dozen other websites controlled by Fox.
The agreement does not however cover FoxSports, which currently has contracts with Microsoft and MSN.
Announcing the deal, both Fox's parent company and Google hinted that the arrangement could lead to further collaboration between the two firms in the future.
News Corporation president and chief operating officer, Peter Chernin, said: "This is an exciting time in our history as a forward thinking media company and this is just the first of many steps we plan to take with Google."
"We look forward to expanding our relationship into many new areas over years to come," he added.
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said his company's "innovative technologies" would be of "real benefit" to the growing number of people using Fox's websites.
"MySpace is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world's information universally accessible and useful," he said.