Yahoo! Inc. announced that it has agreed to extend its ad placement deal on Microsoft Corp.'s MSN sites through June 2005, Reuters reported.

Under the terms of the extended deal, Yahoo!'s Overture Services will continue to provide its service to MSN sites in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. The Wall Street Journal reported that although Overture declined to comment on the value of the deal, some analysts predict it could generate about $200 million in revenue a year for Overture.

"We are pleased that our collaboration has helped grow the online ad industry and benefited consumers and advertisers in the process," says Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, MSN information services and merchant platform division, Microsoft.

"MSN is a valued industry partner and we are pleased to extend our successful relationship in the U.S. and around the world. We appreciate the vote of confidence from MSN and we look forward to working with them on innovative sponsored search solutions," said Ted Meisel, president, Overture.

Microsoft recently launched a beta preview of its new search engine technology.

Additional resources:

Read SearchTHIS: The New and Improved MSN Search