RSSBroad opposition meeting Yahoo-Google ad deal
By Ed Oswald | Published May 12, 2008, 5:52 PM
While the company may be free of Microsoft, Yahoo is now facing pushback over its planned advertising deal with Google.
Even though no deal has been officially reached, the mention of discussions has some calling for government intervention over antitrust issues. Several interest groups across a wide variety of industries are asking the Justice Department to step in.
The DOJ is already interested in Yahoo's apparent moves to embrace Google ad technology. Testing is reportedly underway, and if the deal becomes permanent, it may require regulatory approval.
16 different groups including the Black Leadership Forum, and even the American Corn Growers Association are saying any pact between Google and Yahoo would be anticompetitive.
The groups fear that such a deal would be a threat to privacy and choice, which would hurt small and medium businesses across the country. At least one of the groups, the Black Leadership Forum, also played a role in opposing the XM-Sirius merger, which was given approval by federal regulators.
Microsoft is not listed among the organizations asking for a review. It is not known if any of the groups may have business dealings with the Redmond company through its own advertising programs, including adCenter.
