antitrust

With Google deep-sixing its search-ad deal with Yahoo because of antitrust obstacles, what's next for the beleaguered Internet company?

Setting a new course isn't easy, of course, and Yahoo has less wiggle room without the the $800 million in annual revenue and $250 million to $450 million in new operating cash flow it said it expected during the first year of the Google deal. Now Yahoo has two basic options: continue with its internal efforts to improve its business, or enter into some sort of major transaction with the likes of AOL or Microsoft.

Judging by Yahoo's … Read more

Google has pulled the plug on a search-ad partnership with Yahoo that would have given Yahoo major new revenue but that raised antitrust concerns.

"After four months of review, including discussions of various possible changes to the agreement, it's clear that government regulators and some advertisers continue to have concerns about the agreement," said David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer in a blog post Wednesday. "Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners. That wouldn't have been in the long-term interests of Google or our … Read more

Yahoo shares edged up Tuesday as analysts and the company's own major shareholder and director Carl Icahn said they longed for the Internet search pioneer to entertain a search-only deal with Microsoft.

That recommendation followed reports Monday that Yahoo and Google have dramatically watered down their initial search advertising proposal, as a means to gain approval from federal antitrust regulators.

Analysts with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said in a research note that Yahoo should dump its Google deal and turn its attention back to Microsoft, which previously had offered as much as $33 a share for the entire … Read more

Bouncing the ball back to federal antitrust regulators, Yahoo and Google have reportedly revised their search advertising agreement with caps, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, the companies sent a revised proposal to the Department of Justice over the weekend that calls for such significant changes as limiting the 10-year agreement to 2 years and, more importantly, placing a cap of 25 percent on the amount of revenue Yahoo can generate from Google under the deal.

The controversial search advertising deal calls for Yahoo to place Google's ads on its own relevant … Read more

Yahoo and Google are nearing a point where they'll have to decide whether to fish or cut bait on regulatory approval for their search advertising deal.

During the past two months, efforts to appease federal antitrust regulators have gotten bogged down with potential restrictions on the deal. As a result, the companies' enthusiasm for its search advertising partnership has turned into frustration, raising speculation that the parties might walk.

"I still like the concept of the (Yahoo-Google) deal," said one source familiar with the agreement, but who noted taking on a legal challenge by the Department of … Read more

Russian antitrust regulators have blocked Google's acquisition of ZAO Begun, an online advertising unit of Rambler Media.

The companies had agreed to the terms of the $140 million acquisition in July, but Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service said "nyet." According to Svetlana Gladkova's translation of a Russian news report, the reason is that Google hadn't submitted complete information on employees in Russia, so the FAS couldn't evaluate the deal's consequences.

Google is evaluating its next move.

"We are very disappointed to hear that FAS has come to this decision. We strongly believe … Read more

Investors pushed shares of Yahoo up in morning trading Wednesday as analysts point to stronger profit margins due to cost cutting and a healthy increase in its search advertising revenues.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, was down 298.30 points to 8,739.12 and the Nasdaq fell 34.01 points to 1,662.67.

Yahoo rose as high as 5.8 percent to $12.77 a share in intra-day trading, following weak third-quarter results it reported after the markets closed Tuesday. Yahoo's shares were moving in the black in the morning, while the broader markets were posting … Read more

Google and Yahoo are in early-stage negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department to avoid an antitrust challenge to their proposed advertising agreement, according to a report Monday night in The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department and a multistate task force are still reviewing the proposal to decide whether to oppose the partnership, which has been criticized by advertising groups as anticompetitive. In September, the Justice Department hired antitrust litigator Sandy Litvack as a consultant in its networking and technology unit to weigh whether the case could be won at trial, say sources.

Under the nonexclusive partnership, which … Read more

WASHINGTON-- Microsoft has made some progress developing a set of documents required as part of its antitrust consent decree, but the work could be accomplished much more quickly if the company took on a less grudging attitude, state and federal antitrust regulators said Thursday.

The comments were made during a status conference meeting held to asses Microsoft's compliance with the consent decree.

In June, regulators said that the "overview documents" Microsoft prepared did not sufficiently enable third-party licensees to create software interoperable with the company's operating systems. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly agreed that Microsoft had to create … Read more