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Google postpones online advertising tie-up with Yahoo

Google said on Friday it was postponing a planned online advertising tie-up with Yahoo to allow more time for US anti-trust regulators to consider the ramifications of the deal.

“When we announced our advertising agreement with Yahoo! in June we agreed to delay its implementation until October to give regulators time to look at the details,” Google said in an e-mail statement.

“As we are still in conversation with the Department of Justice we have agreed to a brief delay in implementing the agreement while those discussions continue,” Google said.

The proposed online advertising alliance could be used to show that politicians and regulators blamed for letting financial markets self-destruct are now better watching out for people’s economic interests.

Both California Internet titans have defended the ad pact on Capitol Hill and in online statements.

Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith has openly argued that the tie-up would crimp competition and give Google “unprecedented” control of the gateway to the Internet.

Smith said in July the tie-up would give Google “an unprecedented level of control over advertising for search on the Internet — up to 90 percent potentially of all search ads.”

The result, he said, would be higher prices for advertisers, and “put Google in control of the gateway to the Internet ... raising significant privacy implications.”
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