July 8, 2012 - Facebook and Yahoo announced on July 6 that they ended their patent lawsuit and have agreed to cross-license their patent portfolios, with no money changing hands. The two companies are also forming an ad sales partnership in which Yahoo will be allowed to reach out to Facebook users by showing "Like" buttons in its ads.
The strategic alliance between the two companies was negotiated in large part by Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg and Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn. Settlement talks began almost as soon as Yahoo ousted former CEO Scott Thompson, who was the driving force behind the ill-fated lawsuit.