by Grace Alexander

Created on: May 20, 2010

Taking yet another huge step away from search, former search engine Yahoo is now primarily a news portal with search powered by rival Microsoft's newly revamped engine Bing. However, Yahoo apparently intends to become more than just a news site with a terrific home page, as evidenced by the fact that the giant just bought content mill Associated Content for a reported cool hundred million.

According to Beacon Equity:

"The purchase of AC, the freelance-writers Web site that resells content on a wide variety of subjects, is part of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s strategy to expand its content offering to match similar steps taken by AOL’s Seed and Demand Media... The Bartz plan includes increasing ad revenue at Yahoo from additional content produced through AC."

AC, which claims to have 380,000 contributors and boasts that 50,000 pieces of content are submitted each month, is supplied with content for the most part by part time freelance writers willing to provide content for a share of ad revenues or a small up-front payment. Reputed customers of the content mill include Cox Newspapers, Thomson Reuters and Gannett Company. According to AC's FAQ, things will not change much at the company:

"New branding initiatives will be announced in the future. Associated Content is only getting better and bigger from here - brace yourself for good times and plenty of new opportunities. With Yahoo!'s wind beneath Associated Content's wings, contributors can expect new assignments, new ways to profit from their content and improved marketing tools!"

AC founder Luke Beatty commented on the sale, saying,

“We see it not so much as AC’s content being on Yahoo, but as Yahoo now having this massive group of people that can provide content on any given subject.”

Many contributors to AC fear that the sale will indeed bring major change, especially in light of AC's recent stance on payments made to non-US providers. According to an email sent to many contributors from AC:

"As of May 1, 2010, Associated Content will be making changes to our payment system that significantly impact Contributors who are not United States taxpayers... After evaluating our payment policies in regard to international Contributors, our legal team has determined that Associated Content must immediately start withholding a portion of all international Performance Payments pursuant to U.S. tax laws. Due to the cost involved in this process, we can only offer continued Performance Payments to international

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