News : Yahoo signs ad deals with Wal-Mart and CBS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc, which is under pressure from Carl Icahn and other shareholders, on Wednesday announced a series of advertising deals with companies ranging from Wal-Mart Stores Inc to CBS Corp.

The multiyear Wal-Mart deal makes Yahoo the primary marketing and sales channel for Walmart.com's display and video advertising. Yahoo also becomes the exclusive portal to resell the site's display inventory.

In another deal, the digital unit of advertising holding company Havas will work with Yahoo globally on its so-called AMP platform, which is meant to simplify the process of selling online ads. Yahoo plans to roll out AMP in the third quarter.

A third agreement calls for Yahoo to carry CBS content, like clips from TV shows, as part of a broader plan by the media company to add new outlets for its television programs.

The deal would have Yahoo join the CBS Audience Network, which already includes major outlets like Google Inc's YouTube, Time Warner Inc's AOL and Microsoft Corp's MSN, as well as sites like Joost, Veoh and Bebo.

After failing to reach a buyout agreement with Microsoft Corp, Yahoo has faced mounting criticism from shareholders, including billionaire activist investor Icahn, who is now mounting a proxy fight for control of the company.

Icahn has proposed an alternate slate of directors for Yahoo's board, and he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Tuesday that he would seek to remove Jerry Yang as chief executive.

Yahoo President Susan Decker said at an advertising industry conference in New York that there were still "ongoing, engaged conversations" with Microsoft and "many ways in which a combination" could be beneficial.

Shares of Yahoo were up 52 cents, or 2 percent, at $26.67 in early New York Stock Exchange trade.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Dave Zimmerman and Lisa Von Ahn)