Monthly Archives: November 2008

In a post on the Official Google Blog, Google announced that they were withdrawing from the search advertising partnership with Yahoo that was originally announced in June. In a press release the U.S. Justice Department stated that Google withdraw “after the Department of Justice informed the companies that it would file an antitrust lawsuit to block the implementation of the agreement”. The Justice Department said that the agreement “would likely harm competition in the markets for Internet search advertising and Internet search syndication” due to the companies accounting for over 90 percent of both markets. In Google’s post they stated they withdrew because of the risk of a protracted legal battle as well as “damage to relationships with valued partners.”

Google and Yahoo have proposed a revised version of their search advertising partnership to the U.S. Justice Department according to a Wall Street Journal article. The revised proposal limits the amount of revenue Yahoo can receive from the partnership to 25 percent of Yahoo’s search advertising revenue, shortens the length of the partnership to two years from a possible 10, and allows Google advertisers to opt out having their ads appear on Yahoo. The Wall Street Journal also reported that people familiar with discussions between the companies and the Justice Department told them that as of late last week a stalemate had been reached in the discussions.