The agreement, signed with the Baltic Press Publishers' Collective Management Organization (BPCMO), covers members including Delfi Media, Postimees Group, Õhtuleht Publishing, Äripäev, Hiiu Media, Geenius Media, Nädaline, Raadio Kadi, Võru Teataja and Latvian news agency LETA.

BPCMO chair and Delfi Media board member Erik Heinsaar told ERR that local companies invest heavily in content creation.

"If anyone — local or international — uses that content without fair compensation, that's a problem," he said. "For Estonian media companies, that's lost revenue."

He called the agreement a "first of its kind," noting that it sets a positive precedent for future negotiations. The media collective has spent more than a year negotiating with other partners and hopes the Microsoft deal will give a boost to similar deals.

Microsoft's Bing accounts for roughly 4.5–5 percent of searches in Estonia, Heinsaar said.

He declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal, citing confidentiality clauses, but added that the absolute numbers are higher for larger players such as Google, which holds nearly 90 percent of the market.

The deal is also seen as a more efficient approach than negotiating with individual smaller outlets.

Latvian, Lithuanian deals may follow

Heinsaar noted that tech companies like Microsoft, Google and potentially OpenAI may not want to negotiate individually with smaller Estonian outlets — or even larger ones like Delfi. Handling negotiations through a media collective, however, streamlines the process for everyone involved.

He added that the latest deal could also encourage similar arrangements in Latvia and Lithuania.

"Once they see that one deal is in place and the organization is viable, I believe we can secure broader representation in our neighboring countries faster," the BPCMO chair said.

The collective emphasized that Microsoft is the first major tech company to respect the rights of Estonian news publishers and comply with the EU's Digital Single Market directive and Estonia's Copyright Act.

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