Apparently, the DOJ still needs more time to vet the upcoming ad-sharing deal between
The deal, which would let Google serve ads on underperforming Yahoo keywords, was fashioned shortly after Microsoft’s bid to buy Yahoo crumbled. Google’s strategy was to help Yahoo remain a viable competitor in the search space, while keeping Microsoft at bay. In the four months since the deal was announced, however, much has happened: the global economic crisis, the stock market crash and most recently, Microsoft reiterating the fact that it was no longer interested in making a bid for Yahoo (after CEO Steve Ballmer’s verbal misstep last week). Google’s attempt to aid Yahoo and prop up its search revenues is gallant, and would go a long way toward helping Yahoo weather the current economic storm, but is it really in Google’s best interest any longer?
Without the deal, Yahoo may be forced into Microsoft’s arms, but as Microsoft itself has said, it’s not all that interested. So in the end, the biggest result for Google is increased regulatory scrutiny–not just on the deal, but on Google’s business overall, and whether it holds a monopoly grip on the search advertising market as a whole. And that’s something Google, with its upwards of 70% market share, should be trying to avoid at all costs, especially in these tight economic times. Some pundits see the delay as just the result of Google’s naivete in the face of how Washington works. But perhaps the real reason is that Google’s no longer fighting the delay because the economic climate has changed and it’s a lot more savvy than we think.
