Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 30 January 2008 08:55
IT Industry -
Deals
Microsoft has scored another high-profile client for its advertising delivery services in the form of the Wall Street Journal digital network.
Microsoft is now the exclusive provider of contextual and paid search advertising for the network, which includes The Wall Street Journal Online, Barrons.com, MarketWatch.com and AllThingsD.com.
Dow Jones & Company, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal was acquired last year by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. NewsCorp also owns MySpace, which has an advertising agreement with Google that's set to run until 2010.
Whether the WSJ tie-up heralds a realignment of NewsCorp in Microsoft's favour remains to be seen.
When MySpace signed an advertising deal with Google, Microsoft quickly sealed an exclusive arrangement with Facebook. Last year, the relationship was expanded and Microsoft took an equity stake in Facebook, but the rivalry between MySpace and Facebook is apparently not enough stop other NewsCorp units from signing with Microsoft's digital advertising operation.