Microsoft may speed up to $150 million in Yahoo payments

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Microsoft Corp. may accelerate up to $150 million in reimbursements due Yahoo Inc. if their proposed Internet search partnership is approved by regulators.

The new timetable disclosed Thursday was among the minor changes that Microsoft and Yahoo made to an agreement reached in July. The companies signed the final contract last week.

Yahoo may now collect the entire $150 million by June 30 next year if it's working with Microsoft by then. The letter of intent had called for Yahoo to receive $50 million installments from Microsoft during the first three years of their 10-year contract.

Yahoo will also get to keep 88 percent of the revenue generated from the ads appearing alongside the search results, even though Microsoft will be supplying the technology.

In another tweak to the July agreement, Microsoft gave Yahoo the option to continue showing ads from other parties alongside search results in Hong Kong and Korea. If Yahoo exercises this right, it won't receive the same revenue guarantees from Microsoft as other countries covered in their proposed partnership.

Microsoft and Yahoo want to team up in a bid to undercut Google Inc.'s dominance in the lucrative Internet search market.

The companies are hoping antitrust regulators will approve their alliance early next year.