Due to opposition from regulatory authorities and consumers, Google Inc. had decided to renounce the search ad cooperation plan with Yahoo! Inc., in order to avoid protracted legal battles, the company announced on Nov 5, 2008.
After Yahoo's senior management turned down Microsoft's takeover bid in June, Yahoo signed a search ad cooperation agreement with Google. According to the agreement, Yahoo could publish Google ads on its own website and publisher partner websites in the US and Canada. It was also entitled to decide on the positioning and means of publishing of the Google ads on such websites. This deal would allow Yahoo to increase its annual revenue by US $800 million.
The deal was investigated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and judiciary authorities in several states for fears that it would lead to monopoly in Internet advertising markets. According to comScore statistics, the two companies accounted for over 80% of the global market share of Internet search advertising in August 2008.
The US DOJ announced on November 5 that it had notified Yahoo of its plan to file a lawsuit against the deal.
In light of this situation, Google decided to pull out in the end. After four months of review, including intensive discussions, Google's chief legal officer pointed out it was clear that the government regulators and some advertisers continued to have concerns about the deal. Google's chief legal officer stated that "We are, of course, disappointed that this deal would not be moving ahead."
Yahoo also expressed its disappointment over the Google decision on that day and said, "We are disappointed that Google chose to withdraw from the agreement rather than defend it in court."
By People's Daily Online
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