OpenMarket.org: Google-Yahoo: What’s the Big Deal?
Alex Harris
· 1 year ago
My colleague Sam Glaser just pointed out that it may have been fitting to include a quote from when the deal was announced, way back in the Dark Ages of June 12.
At the time, the Google-Yahoo deal didn’t seem like… well, like such a big deal. Google and Yahoo agreed to hold the deal up, but largely so that Yahoo could back out if Microsoft changed its mind. No one thought that it even needed approval. It’s not a merger, after all.
Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said, “We believe, given that it’s a commercial agreement, there’s not formal regulatory approval. We agreed with the Department of Justice on a voluntary basis to have them review this deal.”
"But search ads will be supplanted by some higher-profit venture tomorrow."
Ah, but antitrust regulators aren't smart enough to know that -- otherwise they'd be working in the industry themselves. The regulators take a static snapshot and use that as a baseline, which inherently makes any change suspect.
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At the time, the Google-Yahoo deal didn’t seem like… well, like such a big deal. Google and Yahoo agreed to hold the deal up, but largely so that Yahoo could back out if Microsoft changed its mind. No one thought that it even needed approval. It’s not a merger, after all.
Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said, “We believe, given that it’s a commercial agreement, there’s not formal regulatory approval. We agreed with the Department of Justice on a voluntary basis to have them review this deal.”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9967369-7.html
How times have changed.
Ah, but antitrust regulators aren't smart enough to know that -- otherwise they'd be working in the industry themselves. The regulators take a static snapshot and use that as a baseline, which inherently makes any change suspect.