Yahoo and Facebook Put Down the Guns, Are Now “Closer” Than Ever

As expected, the Yahoo vs. Facebook dispute came to an end with the two companies shaking hands and becoming better friends than ever. At least that's what they're saying officially.
Behind the fake smiles, though, there are hundreds of millions of dollars spent by Facebook acquiring patents to fight back and quite a lot of money spent by both companies on the lawsuit itself. Once again, the only winners are the lawyers, who get paid either way.

"Yahoo! and Facebook today announced that they have entered into definitive agreements that launch a new advertising partnership, extend and expand distribution arrangements, and settle all pending patent claims between the companies," Facebook said, leaving the important stuff at the end.

The two companies have agreed to cross-license patents, but it is said that no money actually changed hands. Still, this means that the lawsuit and countersuit are now done.

The deal was pushed by interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, but everyone at Yahoo is behind it, even the ones that though the patent suit was a good idea in the first place. It was clear that Facebook was not to be bullied and would go all the way with this, so the lawsuit supporters realized giving up was the better choice.

Surprisingly perhaps, Levinsohn was able to actually make something good out of the entire ordeal, by striking a much stronger partnership with Facebook. Before the lawsuit, Yahoo already had some strong ties to Facebook and integrated the social network into many of its products.

Moving forward, the two companies will work together to sell "premium" ad packages to advertisers, the type of things Yahoo is already good at and which Facebook is trying to get into.

"We are excited to develop a deeper partnership with Facebook, and I’m grateful to Sheryl and her team for working hard together with our team to develop this dynamic agreement," Levinsohn said in the customary exchange of pleasantries.

"I’m pleased that we were able to resolve this in a positive manner and look forward to partnering closely with Ross and the leadership at Yahoo!," "Sheryl," aka Sheryl Sandberg  COO of Facebook and Zuckerberg's right hand, replied.

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