GOOG-YHOO – Not Gonna Happen?
Among all of the things that are the LEAST LIKELY to happen – including the IAB saving online advertising from plummeting along with the rest of the country, Palin actually helping McCain get votes tomorrow – who would have though it would be the "merging" of two Internet giants?
The deal, which caused a lot of concern – and open mouths – last spring when it was announced, may be thwarted by the US Department of Justice as the two companies fail to convince it that it won't have anticompetitive effects on the online search advertising industry. In fact, they are failing so badly that the chances that the alliance will actually be formed are looking "increasingly slim," according to the Financial Times.
Maybe the letter that ANA sent last month to the DOJ – stating that the deal will likely diminish competition, increase
concentration of market power, limit choices currently available, and
potentially raise prices to search advertisers – had some effect. Or maybe that strong, surly Texas Congressman bringing up privacy issues did the trick.
Either way, apparently this dance isn't for everyone – only the sexy people.
If the deal does fall through, Yahoo's going to have to do some serious soul-searching and maybe even consider acquiring Time Warner's AOL or think about going back to Microsoft – if they'll have them, that is. And Google? WWGD?
