Microsoft rally opposition to Google-Yahoo deal
Microsoft has begun the fight to stop the recently announced Google-Yahoo ad-serving agreement going ahead, reports Reuters.
The day after the deal was unveiled, Microsoft reportedly emailed political advocacy groups to complain that it would not be in the interests of competition in the search advertising sector.
In an attempt to drum up support for its cause, Microsoft is believed to have said that the ad-serving contract between Google and Yahoo will both “limit choices for advertisers and publishers” and “destroy a competitive alternative.”
The Seattle firm went on to say that the deal amounts to a price-fixing agreement, with the companies being able to effectively set a minimum price for certain keyword advertising, claims Reuters’ source.
“Our position has been clear since April that any deal between these two companies will increase prices for advertisers and start to consolidate more than 90 percent of the search advertising market in Google’s hands,” commented Microsoft spokesperson Jack Evans.
Microsoft offer
The likelihood of anti-competitive charges scuppering the Google-Yahoo ad deal has been looming ever since it was announced following the rejection of Microsoft’s final offer to Yahoo.
In an email to Microsoft employees, it has emerged that this final offer entailed a $9 billion cash offer and a $1 billion a year guaranteed in extra operating profit.
This offer would have seen Microsoft purchasing a 16 percent stake in Yahoo and buying its search business (valued in the offer at $1 billion) outright.
Antitrust experience
If Microsoft were to eventually file an a antitrust case against the Google-Yahoo deal they would be in familiar territory; albeit on the other side of the lawsuit.
The company has spent years fighting antitrust and anti-competitive lawsuits in both the United States and Europe, most recently being fined $613 million for abusing the dominance of its Windows operating platform.
The question of whether the Google-Yahoo ad-serving arrangement will be opposed by antitrust regulators has split experts. Microsoft was also against Google’s $3.1 billion purchase of advertising company DoubleClick last year; a deal which U.S. regulators later approved.
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