Investors have reason to be concerned about Yahoo!'s future growth prospects in this business. On Monday after the closing bell, search company LookSmart announced that its biggest customer -- Microsoft's MSN Internet -- would not renew its licensing agreement with LookSmart, which provided paid search listings to MSN.
Microsoft appears intent on building its own search capabilities and in doing so, there's the chance that it will eventually dump other partners as well. That could be bad news for Yahoo! since it is set to complete its deal for Overture Services, another sponsored search provider that lists Microsoft as one of its top two customers.
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