14 DAY TRIAL // In a move that bears little surprise with it, Google has positioned itself firmly in between a potential Microsoft and Yahoo marriage. Arguing that both Google and Yahoo were made possible by the openness of the Internet, David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, has criticized Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo, as a source of troubling questions. But in the end, it's nothing more than payback time for the Mountain View-based search giant. Microsoft has gone to great lengths back in 2007 to block the $3 billion acquisition of DoubleClick by Google, regarding a monopoly on the online advertising market. The problem at that time was that DoubleClick had already answered "I do" to Google, while Yahoo is still considering Microsoft's offer.
However, Google has no issues jumping the gun on criticizing Microsoft's unsolicited takeover proposal for Yahoo, even if the Sunnyvale-based Internet giant is only evaluating a bid that itself had deemed unsolicited. Google simply aims to be the catalyst behind keeping Microsoft and Yahoo two separate entities. At the end of the past week, the Redmond company went public with a $44.6 billion acquisition proposal of Yahoo.
"Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation. Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets," Drummond revealed.
But Drummond's statement on the matter at hand does not in any way reflect the work Google is doing behind the scenes to block Microsoft from acquiring Yahoo. The Mountain View search giant has interpreted Microsoft's bid for Yahoo as a direct attack, which it undoubtedly is. Microsoft has failed to specifically refer to Google, but has informed that its marriage with Yahoo would serve to block the dominant force on the online and search engine markets. However, Google is now going as far as to invite Yahoo to its own bed, just to keep it out of Microsoft's.
Eric Schmidt, Google Chief Executive Officer, offered Yahoo's Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Yang, help and support in turning down Microsoft's offer. In this manner, Google even went as far as to indicate that it would be opened to a full partnership with Yahoo. In addition, top Google executives have approached allies such as Time Warner, and News Corp., in order to inquire about possible bids for Yahoo. At this point in time, it seems that there are no companies interesting in starting a bidding war with Microsoft over Yahoo.
"Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft - despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses - to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions - and consumers deserve satisfying answers," Drummond added.