The US Association of National Advertisers asked the Justice Department to block a proposed partnership between Google Inc and Yahoo Inc, saying it may drive up the price of search advertising.
The agreement may also decrease competition and boost the amount of power Yahoo and Google have over the market, the New York-based trade group, which represents companies including General Motors Corp, said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
AGREEMENT
Under the accord, Yahoo would show Google ads, which command a higher price, along with promotions it sells on its own.
Google will share a percentage of the revenue with Yahoo.
The deal will help advertisers better target their ads, which will be priced by competitive auction, Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said yesterday.
“Advertisers care far more about getting a good return on their advertising dollar than they do about buying cheap ads that don’t bring in customers,” Kovacevich said in an e-mailed statement.
Google will proceed with the agreement by early next month, chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said on Aug. 28.
REVIEW
The companies said in June they would give the Justice Department three and a half months to review the partnership, even though they said it wasn’t legally necessary.
Yahoo was “disappointed” with the group’s opposition to the arrangement with Google, which would lead to a “higher quality Yahoo marketplace for our advertisers,” spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said in an e-mail.
Also See: The future of computers is at stake as Google marks 10th year
RSS