Yahoo and MCI untie the knot

Yahoo and MCI have agreed to end their jointly-branded online service after just six months.

The service, Yahoo Online, offered Internet access and online content to users. Its future was thrown into doubt after MCI agreed in July to sell off all its Internet business to Cable & Wireless (C&W), in order to gain regulatory approval for a $40bn merger with WorldCom.

An MCI spokeswoman said the decision to end the agreement was mutual. Yahoo's chief operating officer, Jeff Mallett, said C&W will inherit the existing Yahoo Online users, while Yahoo will seek another Internet service provider to ally with. Mallett added that customers will not notice any change in the service.

Meanwhile, the WorldCom/MCI merger has been formally completed, following the granting of official approval by the US Federal Communications Commission on Monday.

The new company, called MCI WorldCom, claims to offer the world's first "local-to-global-to-local" network, offering data, Internet and telephony exclusively over its own worldwide network.

MCI has also completed its $1.75bn sale of its Internet concerns to C&W.