(CN) - European and U.S. antitrust regulators have cleared Microsoft's plan to buy Yahoo's Internet search and advertising businesses. The European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice said the merger won't significantly hinder competition in European or U.S. markets.
Under the proposed deal, Microsoft will get a 10-year exclusive license to Yahoo's search technology. The software giant will also hire Yahoo search staff and become its exclusive search partner.
Microsoft gets to keep 12 percent of the advertising profits during the first five years of the agreement, paying Yahoo the remaining 88 percent for generating the traffic.
Combined, Microsoft and Yahoo represent less than 10 percent of the Internet search market, which is dominated by Google.
The DOJ's antitrust division said the collaboration "will likely enable more rapid improvements in the performance of Microsoft's search and paid search advertising technology than would occur if Microsoft and Yahoo! were to remain separate."
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