News Corp.'s Fox Interactive announced it has selected Google Inc. as MySpace.com's search system.

Google is expected to pay Fox at least $900 million in revenue share payments based on certain traffic promised by Fox. The payments will start in the first quarter of 2007, the Associated Press reported.

As part of the deal Google will be the exclusive provider of text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads through its AdSense program, for inventory on Fox Interactive Media's network. Google will also have a right of first refusal on display advertising sold through third parties on Fox Interactive Media's network.

"Our partnership with Google underscores News Corp's continued evolution to become a powerful force in the digital media marketplace. To have come this far and gained this much momentum in just over a year is truly remarkable," says Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corporation. "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."

The Google MySpace.com partnership ends after months of speculation as to which search engine MySpace would chose to serve its site. It was speculated that Yahoo! Inc. or Microsoft Corp. would be the sole search provider.

"Search is a risky business, particularly in the highly volatile user generated content space. History has taught us time and time again that what’s hot today can be cold tomorrow. While Google certainly has the cash to make these moves, long term players might be looking to make more strategic moves in lieu of this land grab strategy.  MySpace offers vast potential for ad inventory, but how valuable is that inventory and what percentage of revenue did Google have to part with to seal the deal?" says Kevin Ryan, CEO Kinetic Results and iMedia search editor.

As part of the deal, Google's search engine will now replace the Yahoo search engine which is currently being used by MySpace.

"We believe that our innovative technologies will be of real benefit to Fox Interactive Media's growing number of users," says Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google. "MySpace.com 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."