Advertising agencies urge Justice Department to approve Yahoo, Microsoft search partnership

Ad agencies urge DOJ to okay Yahoo, Micorosft deal

WASHINGTON — Major advertising and marketing agencies are urging antitrust reviewers to approve a proposed online search partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies says the deal would enhance competition and benefit advertisers, Web sites and consumers. Joining the trade group in a letter to the Justice Department are four major ad agencies, Publicis Group, WPP, Interpublic Group and Omnicom Group

Under the 10-year agreement announced in July, Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine would process all search requests and steer search-related ads on Yahoo Inc.’s Web site. The companies want to team up to compete with Google Inc., which dominates the online search marketplace.