Herb Kohl
Rep. Barton Suspicious of Google/Yahoo Deal
It turns out that the concern over the Google/Yahoo search advertising partnership is bipartisan. Earlier this month, Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc) urged caution in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett.
Now, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) has written a letter to Barnett expressing his concern. Barton’s beef is with what he feels is Yahoo’s inadequate response to questions regarding the deal.
Barton represents a district that includes Fort Worth as well as suburbs of Dallas. The area is home to many search advertisers. It’s no surprise that Barton is raising concern on their behalf.
Google and Yahoo have tried to assure both the DOJ and advertisers that prices will not go up as a result of the deal, but fears remain. Both companies have said that advertisers set the pricing through the bidding process, but when you’re thinking about bidding for a term on the top 2 search engines, it’s understandable to think that prices will go up – even if Google and Yahoo do not set them higher.
What remains is uncertainty, which is not exactly comforting in a volatile economy.
Senator Kohl Wants Oversight of Google-Yahoo Deal
Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is okay with the Google-Yahoo deal, but he wants the DOJ to keep a close eye on the implementation. In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett, Kohl, Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust urges:
Recognizing the nascent and fast-changing nature of this marketplace, we encourage the Department to continue to monitor the state of competition in this industry, whatever the outcome of its current investigation. If, over time, you determine that Google is gaining a dominant market position as a result of the Google-Yahoo agreement, then we would encourage the Justice Department to intervene to protect competition. Even should you conclude at present that this deal is not contrary to antitrust law, the Department must be sure that this deal never in the future crosses the line into an unacceptable, anti-competitive collaboration among competitors which will harm consumers and advertisers.
Kohl also acknowledged both the fears of advertisers and the assurances of Yahoo and Google. I think it’s prudent to let the deal go through, but to watch as the program unfolds to see if anti-competitiveness occurs.
What do you think?
h/t Reuters
Yahoo Google Deal: Yahoo Adds AdWords Search Deal
Yahoo signed a new advertising deal with Google that will face antitrust scrutiny during the next 90 days or so. The deal, which will not be executed until regulatory review is completed, will allow Yahoo to display some ads sold by Google.
U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to the announcement by Google and Yahoo:
“We will closely examine the joint venture between Google and Yahoo announced today. This collaboration between two technology giants and direct competitors for Internet advertising and search services raises important competition concerns. The consequences for advertisers and consumers could be far-reaching and warrant careful review, and we plan to investigate the competitive and privacy implications of this deal further in the Antitrust Subcommittee.”
The benefit to Yahoo? An estimated $800 million in annual revenue come come through improved monetization of search. For now, the deal is limited to search. Google and Yahoo are looking at ways to expand the partnership, most likely into display advertising.
Yahoo will determine how Google’s ads are displayed. Yahoo’s pitching the agreement as part of its “open strategy” but it’s a clear indication that Yahoo Panama failed to deliver.
Yahoo President Susan Decker called the pact “a bridge” that will help the company create a unified display and search business. Yahoo said either party can end the agreement in the event of a change in control. If that happens in the next 24 months, Yahoo would be penalized with a termination fee of $250 million, less some of the revenue Google had earned through the deal.
Full text of the agreement after the jump:
Click to read the rest of this post…
Scrutinize Google, DoubleClick, Says Congress
DC lawmakers want the Federal Trade Commission to do more than rubber-stamp Google’s $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition.Heavy hitters in the Senate on the antitrust subcommittee want the FTC to look closely at the Google-DoubleClick deal. A statement on Senator Orrin Hatch’s (R-Ut) website noted the letter, containing the concerns of Hatch, Herb Kohl (D-Wi), and [...]
Google, Microsoft Testify About DoubleClick
This is the Internet age. We don’t have to wait for general counsels to drop their bon mots before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, because they are already posted online.
Upon review of the testimony by David Drummond of Google, and Brad Smith of Microsoft, Google thinks its proposed purchase of DoubleClick represents a routine business development, [...]
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