Yahoo Inc.’s new chief executive officer Carol Bartz and her Microsoft Corp. counterpart hare restarted talks about a possible collaboration between the two companies. This time, the talks are reportedly about Internet search and advertising deals that would benefit both.

 

The talks are in their early stages according to a report from AllThingsD blog. Several “scenarios” “such as one in which the companies swap online advertising assets and deliver services to each other," have been put on the table and discussed by the two CEOs, the report says. 

 

A very possible scenario that would earn both companies big bucks is that in which Yahoo takes over all of Microsoft’s display and premium advertising business and sells it with its own, while Microsoft runs the search advertising business for both companies. 

 

The two companies did not comment on this issue. The new talks come after last year, Yahoo and Microsoft held a marathon series of talks and negotiations. Yahoo turned down a $47 billion takeover offer from Microsoft, a move that angered numerous Yahoo investors. 

 

However, a deal with Yahoo would be a major boost for Microsoft. The software giant would benefit from the massive search volume of Yahoo to better compete with Google in the Web search market. Microsoft has already been trying to get its hand on at least some know-how from Yahoo by hiring former Yahoo executives such as Qi Lu, a well-known technology specialist who now heads Microsoft’s overall online business, including search.