Just why Microsoft made that determination is unclear. What could have possibly happened to make it not just abandon adCenter Analytics, but to refer clients to rival services, including Google Analytics?

An unfortunate turn of events for Google (GOOG), which had expected to complete its acquisition of ZAO Begun in the third quarter. More so, because of the regulatory scrutiny being leveled at the search sovereign’s proposed advertising partnership with Yahoo (YHOO). “We are very disappointed to hear that FAS has come to this decision,” Google said in a statement. “We strongly believe that this acquisition will enable us to significantly improve opportunities for Russian users, advertisers and publishers as well as the entire industry. At this time, we are reviewing FAS’s decision. Once this process is complete, we will decide on our next steps.”

Sounds like Google may not be willing to take nyet for an answer …

This isn’t the first time Kohl has raised concerns about the long-term implications of Yahoo’s (YHOO) proposed deal with Google (GOOG). And it almost certainly won’t be the last. Back in September, he worried aloud that the partnership might reduce Yahoo to “nothing more than the newest satellite in the Google orbit.” And nothing much has changed since that time, except for Google’s increased advocacy of the deal on the new “Yahoo-Google Facts” site.

How is that possible? Because advertisers are putting their new advertising dollars with Google (GOOG) and pulling some of their old ones away from the company’s rivals. Yahoo (YHOO) lost $0.09 of every new search dollar in the second quarter. Microsoft (MSFT) lost $0.01.

A dismal state of affairs if you’re Yahoo or Microsoft. That said, allocation of search marketing dollars hasn’t really changed all that much. Google maintained its 77.4 percent share of U.S. search marketing dollars, while Yahoo captured 17.8 percent of spending and Microsoft Live Search maintained its 4.8-percent share.

Google (GOOG) today unveiled a new tool that promises to measure Internet usage more precisely. Called AdPlanner, it combines search engine and audience measurement data to create a richer, more intelligent picture of Internet usage, one that may prove far more useful to advertisers looking to identify the best places to buy ads that will reach their target audiences. Slap it together with the recently announced Google Trends for Web Sites and what use is there for traditional advertising-research suppliers?

Great news for media buyers and advertisers who’ve long relied on comScore (SCOR) and Nielsen/Netratings and their shallow, inconsistent metrics. Ugly news for comScore and Nielsen/Netratings, which now seem destined to be disintermediated by Google in much the same way the company disintermediated the rest of the online advertising industry. Sadly, they’ve no one to blame for this but themselves. It’s not like they haven’t been hearing complaints about discrepancies in audience measurement for nearly a decade now (some, presumably, from Google itself).

“We in the marketing-media ecosystem have spent too many years trying to clean up the residue of flawed media-research methodologies,” Randall Rothenberg, president & CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau wrote in a scathing letter to comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings back in 2007. “We simply cannot let the Internet, the most accountable medium ever invented, fall into the same bad customs that have hindered older media and angered advertisers for decades–customs such as inadequate samples, accepted out of begrudging convenience; or phantom metrics, like ‘pass-along readers,’ that add shadowy bulk to audiences that cannot be measured directly; or metering technologies and processes that are easy to game.”

Shares in the company slid still deeper into the mud today as the market reflected on the uneventful conclusion of the company’s merger talks with Microsoft (MSFT) and its decision to–well, let’s face it–become a reseller of Google (GOOG) ads. In early trading, Yahoo’s stock, which plummeted 10% in late trading yesterday, fell another 6% to around $22. And it’s likely to fall further still, with financial analysts taking swings at it like kids at a piñata.

“This deal diminishes Yahoo’s relevance among advertisers and strengthens the hand of a key competitor,” analyst Mark May of Needham & Company told clients in a research note today.

And over at Cantor Fitzgerald, analyst Derek Brown agreed. “We remain concerned about the long-term implications of this deal for Yahoo,” he said. “While the company should reap a near-term financial windfall with Google by its side, it seems to be sacrificing its vision of becoming a ‘must buy’ for online advertisers. After all, doesn’t this deal make Google, not Yahoo!, the ‘must buy’ for online advertisers?”

Jeffrey Lindsay of Bernstein Research says the deal is a litigation nightmare waiting to happen. “We think at a minimum that the current deal will result in further lawsuits, which Yahoo will ultimately have to settle, further impacting the economics of the deal,” he said.

And analyst Laura Martin of Soleil Securities Group says it’s just a nightmare, plain and simple. “Execution issues become more challenging as talent continues to stream out the door,” Martin said in a research note. “With the collapse of the Microsoft deal, Yahoo employees lost (in addition to shareholders), and we expect Yahoo’s employee turnover to accelerate as its share price falls and their stock options are way underwater. Shareholder litigation may distract the board and senior management and will cost Yahoo shareholders more money.”

And Shar VanBoskirk, an analyst with Forrester Research (FORR), well, she reacted as I imagine many observers did–with a slow shake of the head. “It’s a great deal for Google,” she told BusinessWeek . “I have no idea what Yahoo’s thinking.”

If it was thinking at all … Said Mark May, an analyst at Needham & Co., “This just reaffirms the view that Yahoo, and particularly Jerry Yang and David Filo, blew it. It’s hard to see how this management team is going to be able to extract or create value anywhere near 33 bucks a share anytime soon.”