Thomas Barnett
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
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