Yahoo's home page to get makeover

On the marketing front, Yahoo still plans to begin an advertising partnership with Google next month despite an intensifying antitrust investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

Yahoo thinks it can boost its annual revenue by $800 million by relying on Google's technology to sell some of the ads on its Web site, but the partnership has raised concerns about diminished competition because the two companies combined control more than 80 percent of the U.S. search advertising market.

In a move that could foreshadow a formal legal challenge, the Justice Department has hired an antitrust lawyer to review the evidence collected in an inquiry that began even before Yahoo announced its partnership plans with Google in June.

Because they aren't exchanging stock or cash, Yahoo and Google could have launched their alliance months ago but voluntarily waited until October to allow antitrust regulators to assess the situation.

Yahoo plans to start posting some ads from Google at an unspecified date next month, even if the Justice Department hasn't completed its review, said Hilary Schneider, who oversees Yahoo's U.S. operations. Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has expressed the same intention.

"We are confident we can get (regulators) comfortable" with the partnership, Schneider said Thursday.

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