Yahoo! and Sony join forces

NEWS Yahoo! and Sony have announced a marketing alliance to set up a co-branded site, combine ecommerce initiatives and promotional activities. The long-term partnership will see the development of Sony on MY Yahoo! a co- branded website that will be personalised for consumers interested in Sony products and services. The site will also become the default start page for Sony Style Connect - the internet access service recently launched by Sony. Yahoo! will consult Sony on the development of its US Group Portal, which will offer users access to Sony's content, products and services. SonyStyle.com, the Sony Electronics ecommerce platform, will be featured predominately in Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! also intends to heavily promote films from Sony Pictures Entertainment. This is the first significant deal under Terry Semel, the CEO of Yahoo! who joined in April. In a statement he said that by combining Sony's "strength in electronics and entertainment" and Yahoo!'s "brand strength", the deal offers an exciting prospect for consumers. When the markets closed yesterday evening Sony shares were up from $49.52 to $50 and Yahoo! shares were up from $17.62 to $18.29.