Yahoo Merger Could Level Online Ad Market

Winds of a Yahoo-Microsoft merger have sparked a “nuclear war” in the online-advertising world—and the Google-dominated market could soon see major changes, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Nothing short of a new world order in this space is up for grabs,” says an expert. As Yahoo and Microsoft mull joining forces with each other (or perhaps other partners), consolidation could create healthy competition.

“Three major players driving to innovate” would diversify the market, says an exec. On the other hand, a possible Google-Yahoo team-up would bring even more power to a company that already controls much of the search-ad market—perhaps improving efficiency but limiting options. If you can’t move money to a Google competitor, “the only option is to retreat from the search market, lower your spend, or grin and bear it,” says an advertiser.