When it comes to advertising, the combined resources of the two companies would make a more formidable competitor for Google. Recent Microsoft acquisitions such as those of aQuantive and AdECN last year have better positioned the software giant in the online ad market; adding Yahoo's resources into the mix might enable Microsoft to seriously challenge Google's supremacy. Yahoo!, which has seen its search market share flatline over the past year, recently announced plans to lay off 1,000 workers and has struggled to turn its status as the Internet's most popular portal into a cash machine.