Finally.

After a decade of competition, several years of push-me-pull-you partnership talks among innumerable execs come and gone and even a hostile takeover that went bad, Yahoo and Microsoft have officially struck a landmark 10-year search and online advertising deal.

While it is in no way as sweeping as some had expected, the deal marks the most important union of digital companies in recent times.

“In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers,” said the two companies in a joint press release.

Here are the particulars.

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Although it’s not news that Yahoo was readying a new version of its homepage and has spent a lot of time doing so–in fact, it’s gone all Handy Manny with a whole lot of test renovations–the Internet giant begins the massive rollout of it tomorrow.

The official launch of what was code-named “Metro,” which Yahoo had previously said was coming in the fall, will take place on an opt-in “beta” basis for the hundreds of millions of users in the U.S. and will be extended to France, the U.K. and India later this week.

The change is an important one for Yahoo, since its front page–one of the most trafficked on the Web–is perhaps its most powerful calling card to users and advertisers, as well as to Wall Street.

Here are the details and also an interview about it all with Yahoo SVP Tapan Bhat, as well as screenshots of the new page.

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Facebook picked a new CFO quietly, after its cloddish public parting with longtime top financial exec Gideon Yu earlier this year.

The fast-growing social-networking site said in late March it was looking for a CFO with “public company experience,” and it seems to have gotten one in former Genentech CFO David Ebersman.

And, indeed, with the addition of Ebersman, Facebook inches ever closer to an IPO.

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In a move that many in the Silicon Valley chattering classes were certainly wondering about, former Yahoo exec Jeff Weiner has been named CEO of LinkedIn, the largest social network focused on professionals.

Weiner, 39, who has been the president of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company since late last year, will also join the board of directors.

Current CEO, Chairman and founder Reid Hoffman will become executive chairman and will continue to work on a daily basis at LinkedIn. He said the move was not part of preparations for an initial public offering but because Weiner had already been handling the duties of CEO for some time.

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Adding the final leg of its new strategy to reinvigorate AOL, the Time Warner online unit said it was buying two small local start-ups, Patch Media and Going.

Each acquisition–which focus on hyperlocal community news (Patch) and events (Going)–is small, about $10 million.

Ironically, local has previously been a big arena for AOL, which launched its Digital City unit with great fanfare more than a decade ago. AOL still runs Digital City, as well as its CityGuide listing offering.

But, in a move that will surely be scrutinized, Patch is a company whose principal investor has been AOL’s new CEO Tim Armstrong. AOL declined to say how much he had invested in the company, but sources said it was less than $5 million.

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While there were reports that the Time Warner board was meeting today to approve the spin-off of its AOL online unit, it actually gave the move an “enthusiastic endorsement” last night, according to sources.

Time Warner just put out the press release about the move that would make AOL an “independent, publicly traded company.”

But, several sources with knowledge of the situation said AOL CEO and Chairman Tim Armstrong is set to make massive changes to the structure of AOL, sweeping aside its current set-up almost completely.

That includes keeping the access business, which many thought would be sold off and putting many of the companies it has recently acquired–including its pricey Bebo social networking site–in a separate ventures unit, which will try to attract outside investment.

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That would be Walt Mossberg and his well-known Personal Technology and Mossberg Mailbox columns–as well as BoomTown, John Paczkowski’s Digital Daily, Peter Kafka’s MediaMemo, Katherine Boehret’s Mossberg Solution and video and pictures from our famous D: All Things Digital conferences.

Today, All Things Digital is introducing its very own app for Apple’s iPhone and the iPod touch, offering all the posts and columns you get on this Web site–including news, product reviews, analysis and video–from our crack team.

Just smaller and cuter.

So download us and take us along everywhere you go–ATD really enjoys long walks on the beach.

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AOL–which recently has been putting its Socialthing lifestreaming service on a large number of AOL-run Web sites, moving it beyond its Bebo social network–will announce this morning that it will also be launched on another Time Warner property.

According to a press release, Socialthing will also now be part of the Web sites of the Warner Bros. Television Group.

But, more significantly, sources said, AOL’s People Networks has new versions of its AIM and ICQ messengering clients ready that it is preparing to launch soon with new more robust and socialized features.

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Microsoft’s earnings and revenue took a hit in its third quarter, as expected, with profits down 32 percent from a year ago on a six percent sales decline.

Before one-time charges, the software giant earned $2.98 billion, or 33 cents a share after one-time charges, on revenue of $13.65 billion.

The weak results were relatively in line with analysts’ estimates of 39 cents a share on $14.1 billion in revenue.

The culprit for the bad news was the decline in consumer and business spending on computers since half Microsoft’s operating income comes from sales of its Windows operating system.

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Yahoo announced its first-quarter earnings today and results were in line with weak expectations and said it would cut five more percent out of its workforce.

The company reported an eight cent per share profit, down from 37 cents a year ago. It is a 78 percent drop, though last year Yahoo had unusual investment gains in the previous quarter.

Revenues in the current quarter was $1.6 billion, a 13 percent decline from last year’s $1.8 billion. Excluding sales Yahoo shares with its partners, the revenue was $1.16 billion, below the $1.2 billion estimates.

The company also announced it would lay off five percent more of its workforce, or almost 700 employees.

Yahoo later held a conference call, where it discussed the results and more.

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BoomTown is assembling all the popcorn and treats at All Things Digital HQ for Yahoo’s first-quarter earnings call later today, looking forward to hearing what CEO Carol Bartz will say about how she is turning around the Internet giant.

It is actually the 99-day mark since Bartz took over in January, which means I might also invite the sacred cows of Yahoo over for festive cupcakes too.

For the more serious-minded, there should be news about more cost-cutting, including the possibility of additional layoffs, as well as questions on Yahoo’s talks with Microsoft about a search and advertising partnership.

The earnings press release drops at 1:20 p.m. PDT, the call is at 2 p.m.

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Another Goog-Bye.

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, president of Google’s Asia-Pacific and Latin American operations, is leaving the company and joining Silicon Valley venture firm Accel Partners as a CEO-in-residence.

Cassidy, 39, is one of the search giant’s more visible execs and one of its higher-ranking women leaders and also the second top Google exec to depart the company recently.

While exec exodus from Google is much noticed, the moves are probably not surprising given that the powerful company–as it matures–has limited avenues for its typically ambitious managers.

“I was at the end of my streak [at Google] and ready to take the next step and run or grow my own company,” Cassidy said in an interview with BoomTown late tonight. “It is key for me to be stepping out and spreading my wings now.”

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According to several sources, News Corp. will officially announce its shaken-but-not-stirred digital lineup this morning, as former AOL head Jon Miller takes over as the media giant’s new chief digital officer.

And Peter Levinsohn–his predecessor at Fox Interactive Media, which Miller will inherit in a new form, along with a larger portfolio, all based in New York–will also officially take up his new post as the key digital exec at News Corp.’s film and television studios in California.

BoomTown and others had reported on the changes last week.

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Maria Klawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College, has just been named as the 10th member of the Microsoft board.

The company also announced a quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share, payable June 18, 2009, to shareholders of record on May 21, 2009.

Klawe’s appointment is interesting. She is rather sharp–what a shock–according to her bio, which lists impressive credits as a computer scientist.

More importantly, Klawe said she will try to get Microsoft to focus more on gender issues in the computing industry.

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Nobody, but nobody, releases news late Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, unless they are trying to do a PR pirate raid on another company.

So it was nice to see Facebook, which tried and failed to buy Twitter, having the moxie to release impressive user numbers for the fast-growing social-networking site just as all the oxygen was getting sucked out of the media room by news that the microblogging start-up got $35 million in new funding and a $250 million valuation.

Translation from Facebook founder and CEO Mark “Talk-Like-a-Pirate” Zuckerberg: Aarrr! Yer a scurvy bilge rat, puny Twitter!

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