Digg Inc., a reader-powered news site, fired Google Inc. as its online advertising partner Wednesday in favor of a company Digg’s top executive described as young and willing to take risks: Microsoft Corp.

“We at Digg couldn’t think of a better partner to get to where we need to go,” said Jay Adelson, the company’s chief executive officer. “They’re a young ad service, they’re innovative, they’re willing to work with us on the cutting edge.”

For three years, Microsoft will deliver ads - mostly small, contextually relevant text links - on Digg.com.

More than 9.5 million people visited the site in June to read, suggest a story or help vote a favorite onto a list of top news, according to data from comScore World Metrix. Digg competes with similar sites including Reddit.com, acquired last fall by magazine publisher Conde Nast, and Netscape, which is owned by Time Warner Inc.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Google declined to comment.