Google postpones Yahoo online ad deal
October 5th, 2008 | by Indonesia First |Google said it is postponing a planned online advertising tie-up with Yahoo to allow more time for US anti-trust regulators to consider the ramifications of the deal.
“When we announced our advertising agreement with Yahoo! in June we agreed to delay its implementation until October to give regulators time to look at the details,” Google said in an email statement Friday.
“As we are still in conversation with the Department of Justice we have agreed to a brief delay in implementing the agreement while those discussions continue.”
The proposed online advertising alliance could be used to show that politicians and regulators blamed for letting financial markets self-destruct are now better watching out for people’s economic interests.
“You hook up Google and Yahoo and you’ve effectively created a lockout monopoly and regulators are not going to have a good sense of humor,” analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle group told AFP.
“Right now, if you are a company making lots of money you don’t want to piss off any of the regulators. They want to showcase that there is a new sheriff in town. Even oil companies aren’t safe.”
Both California Internet titans have defended the ad pact on Capitol Hill and in online statements.
Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith has openly argued that the tie-up would crimp competition and give Google “unprecedented” control of the gateway to the Internet.
source : http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20081004/tc_afp/uscompanyitcompetitioninternetyahoogoogle
