Google, Yahoo! Pact Looks Likely

SAN FRANCISCO -- Internet behemoth Google(GOOG Quote) is expected to work out a deal with Yahoo!(YHOO Quote), but it still has concerns over sharing proprietary information with its Web-search rival.

A source familiar with the situation said Thursday a deal is more likely to happen than not, but the two companies are trying to come up with an arrangement that would prevent Yahoo! from gaining knowledge of Google's heavily guarded system for search ads and using it to benefit its own lagging business.

Yahoo! had outsourced less than 3% of its online U.S. ads to Google in a two-week test last month, however, neither companies have revealed the results. Yahoo! made the move in an attempt to avoid an unsolicited merger with Microsoft(MSFT Quote). ...