Yahoo’s exploratory advertising deal with Google has given it an alternative to Microsoft’s unsolicited takeover bid after all–the possibility of a federal antitrust investigation. The Justice Department is reportedly examining the companies’ dalliance amid concerns that it violates antitrust laws.
Which isn’t surprising at all, really. Together, Yahoo (YHOO) and Google (GOOG) control more than 80% of the U.S. search market. And as Microsoft (MSFT) general counsel Brad Smith will happily tell you, that’s anti-competitive. And he’d know, right?
Calling Dick Tracy! Guess what the U.S. Department of Justice noticed yesterday?
Google is really, really big and powerful.
Thus, the Feds are casting a gimlet eye on an online ad partnership Google (GOOG) is considering with Yahoo (YHOO), which is trying to goose its value in the face of an unwelcome takeover bid from the [...]
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Yahoo’s exploratory advertising deal with Google has given it an alternative to Microsoft’s unsolicited takeover bid after all–the possibility of a federal antitrust investigation. The Justice Department is reportedly examining the companies’ dalliance amid concerns that it violates antitrust laws.
