Google takes aim at Microsoft's Yahoo move

4 February 2008

Policymakers around the world should examine Microsoft's proposed buyout of Yahoo, search rival Google has said.

In a message on the company's official blog, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond wrote that "Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions". He asked whether, should the acquisition go ahead, Microsoft could "attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the internet that it did with the PC".

Concluding his post, Mr Drummond wrote that "[Google takes] internet openness, choice and innovation seriously. They are the core of our culture."

"We believe that the interests of internet users come first – and should come first – as the merits of this proposed acquisition are examined and alternatives explored."

However, commentators have questioned whether Google's concern owes more to the likely threat it would face from a merger of two primary competitors. Writing on Search Engine Journal, Arnold Zafra said: "Google is not really worried about the internet, but for the impact of this merging... to its operations, dominance and standing as the major internet player."

Analysts cite this as a key reason why the deal is likely to gain regulatory approval, as Microsoft and Yahoo have been struggling individually to compete with Google's dominance of search.

William Mahnic of Case Western University predicted that the deal would be approved with neither company forced by regulators to divest assets. "The big thing here is that Google has such a huge share," he said.

Category: Google, MSN, Natural search, Search engines, Yahoo