Thursday, 6 November 2008

Yahoo Boohoo

So Google has canceled plans for a search advertising partnership with Yahoo amid opposition from antitrust regulators and advertisers.

According to Reuters this morning, Yahoo has expressed dismay at Google's decision, saying it was "disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw from the agreement rather than defend it in court."

The U.S. Justice Department, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said it had told Google that it planned to file a lawsuit to block the deal on antitrust grounds.

"Had the companies implemented their arrangement, Yahoo's competition likely would have been blunted immediately with respect to the search pages that Yahoo chose to fill with ads sold by Google rather than its own ads," the Justice Department said.

This is no great surprise. The only question now is how quickly Microsoft will be back at Yahoo's front door. This time however, their offer will be significantly lower than their bid earlier this year. And this time round, it will be much more difficult for Yahoo's CEO to say no. Tough times ahead then.

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