The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have given a major Microsoft and Yahoo! deal the green light.

Under the terms, Microsoft will acquire exclusive license to Yahoo! search technologies for the next decade. Yahoo!’s existing technology will be integrated into Microsoft’s Bing engine: essentially Bing will power Yahoo!’s search engine. Additionally Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both company’s top-tier search advertisers.

The ACCC scrutinised the competitive effect this would have on national markets regarding the supply of paid search advertising and search syndication services. It found the agreement was unlikely to lessen competition substantially.

Microsoft and Yahoo! said in a joint statement:

“We continue to believe that this deal will create a true, competitive alternative in the marketplace that will benefit consumers, advertisers and publishers. We remain hopeful that the agreement will close in early 2010.”

In a wider context, Microsoft’s alliances are growing.