Yahoo! announces big partnership with ABC News

The Cutline

Yahoo! announced a broad strategic alliance with ABC News on Monday. The partnership was announced on ABC's "Good Morning America," followed by a press conference in New York led by Ross Levinsohn, executive vice president of Americas at Yahoo! and ABC News chief Ben Sherwood.

"We think we can revolutionize the online digital news landscape," Levinsohn said.

"We share the same vision," Sherwood added. "That the future of news and information is up for grabs." The goal of the partnership, he said, was to "win the championship of news and information in the future."

As announced on "Good Morning America," the first initiative of the newly-announced partnership will be George Stephanopoulos' interview with President Obama, webcast live on Yahoo.com and ABCNews.com, Monday at 2:35 p.m. ET.

To underscore the importance of the partnership for ABC, nearly all of the network's stars--including Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour, Robin Roberts, Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden and Bill Weir--were in attendance at the press conference.

"It took one email to get them here," Sherwood said. "They aren't here because they have to be here; they want to be here."

Levinsohn dismissed the notion that the link-up was, in part, him angling for Yahoo's currently vacant CEO position.

Discussions about a potential deal began in January, the executives said--long before Yahoo! chief executive Carol Bartz was ousted.

Here's the full announcement:

Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, and ABC News today announced they will join forces to launch a strategic online news alliance that will deliver content to more than 100 million U.S. users each month.

This new venture blends ABC News' global newsgathering operation and unrivaled lineup of trusted anchors and reporters with Yahoo! News' unmatched audience, depth and breadth of content. Beginning today, GoodMorningAmerica.com, launches on Yahoo! along with three new online-first video series hosted by the award-winning, trusted anchors of ABC News.

As announced on "Good Morning America," George Stephanopoulos' interview with President Obama, drawing on questions posed by readers of Yahoo! and ABCNews.com, will be webcast live on Yahoo.com and ABCNews.com today at 2:35 p.m. ET.

"Yahoo! is committed to building the richest set of premium and personalized content experiences for our users. Our deep collaboration with ABC News further strengthens Yahoo! as the No. 1 online news source, greatly enhancing our already robust news content," said Ross Levinsohn, executive vice president of Americas at Yahoo!. "ABC News and Ben Sherwood's vision is completely symbiotic with ours; together we can create highly engaging experiences for more than 100 million users a month that will set the standard for the industry."

Yahoo! and ABC News announced a strategic online news alliance that will blend ABC News' newsgathering and unrivaled lineup of trusted anchors and reporters with Yahoo! News' unmatched audience, depth and breadth of content.

"This relationship will give ABC News an unrivaled ability to reach across the Web, combining Yahoo!'s vast distribution and cutting-edge technology with our award-winning journalism. For years, we've proudly proclaimed that more Americans get their news from ABC News than any other source," said Ben Sherwood, president of ABC News. "Going forward, we will greatly expand this leadership by building a connection with a whole new online audience."

Under the agreement, ABC News becomes the premier news provider on Yahoo! News, with editorial teams from both organizations collaborating on original coverage to appear on both the Yahoo! News and ABC News sites. Teams will co-produce coverage for major news events and will have integrated bureaus in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. ABC News content will be integrated throughout the Yahoo! News network, including the Yahoo! front page. ABC News will maintain editorial control over ABCNews.com and GoodMorningAmerica.com, and Yahoo! News will maintain editorial control of all its sites.

The new GoodMorningAmerica.com site, powered by Yahoo!'s global technology platform, will feature an influx of original text and video content generated by ABC News. The video series launched today include "Newsmakers," which features ABC News anchors like Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and others interviewing global leaders and celebrities, starting with Stephanopoulos' sitdown with President Barack Obama today. The other two debuting video series are "Around the World with Christiane Amanpour," in which the renowned global reporter and "This Week" anchor offers analysis and context on the international news headlines of the day, and "This Could Be Big," anchored by Bill Weir, which spotlights hot new technology products and explores the future of innovation.