Bing Ads services to roll out in Hong Kong

US judge rules Yahoo cannot stall launch.

The judge refused to let Yahoo, Inc delay using Microsoft Corporation’s Bing search capabilities in Hong Kong, affirming an arbitrator's decision in favor of Microsoft.

Yahoo and Microsoft agreed in 2009 to merge their search capabilities internationally to better compete against market leader Google.

The agreement provided that Yahoo migrate its search and search ad services from its Panama search ad platform to Microsoft's Bing Ads.

Both firms divided the global market into 16 individual geographic markets. They completed the transition to Bing Ads in 14 markets but delayed the launch in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

They originally agreed to complete the migration in the two markets by 2011 but there were mutually agreed delays because of technical problems. Last February, the companies approved a final plan to transition the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets by the end of this October.

Yahoo cited concerns about Microsoft's level of commitment to the Bing Ads platform in view of its CEO Steve Ballmer's announcement that he planned to step down before August 2014.