Google to strengthen relationship with Yahoo!

Google has said it will strengthen its relationship with Yahoo!, fuelling recent speculation the two companies will develop an on-going ad-share deal.

The two internet giants recently underwent a two-week trial that saw Google ads served on Yahoo.com.

Ahead of a shareholders meeting, Google co-founder Sergey Brin confirmed the success of the trial and that two companies were looking at other possibilities.

"We have been talking to Yahoo! and we're very excited to be working with them," said Brin. "We share a lot of values with them."

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said any deal with Yahoo! would have to comply with anti-trust laws.

"If there were a deal, we would anticipate structuring the deal to address the antitrust concerns that have been widely discussed," said Schmidt.

Brin also rubbished speculation that the two-week trial was responsible for the collapse of Microsoft's proposed takeover of Yahoo!.

"We really believe in companies having choices about their destinies," said Brin. "It's not about scuttling (the deal). They were under a hostile attack and we wanted to make sure they had as many options as possible."