I just received the call informing me that Yahoo has decided to kill Paid Inclusion (originally Inktomi) on December 31, 2009. This isn’t a surprise to anyone who has been watching Yahoo’s failure in search. With Microsoft taking over Yahoo’s search for the next 10 years (did Carol Bartz really sign that deal?!?), there was no way that Paid Inclusion would continue. Microsoft was not going to integrate Yahoo’s PI results into its search results and there might not have been enough money to share to cover the development costs and all of the third parties who are involved in the Paid Inclusion ecosystem.
Farewell Paid Inclusion. It’s been fun (and profitable!)
