Microsoft Blasts Yahoo Japan-Google Deal
Microsoft said Tuesday that Google's deal with Yahoo Japan to replace its search service with Google's is more anti-competitive than a failed 2008 U.S. advertising deal between Yahoo and Google that the Justice Department said would violate U.S. antitrust laws.
In a blog post, Microsoft Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner argued that the deal will "eliminate search competition in Japan--in paid advertising and natural search results." He noted that Google accounts for about 51 percent of paid search advertising in Japan, while Yahoo Japan accounts for 47 percent, with their natural search results "almost as high. ... If Google is permitted to proceed with its plan, it would gain nearly complete control over search and search advertising in Japan through contract, not organic growth."
Heiner said this deal is bigger than the 2008 deal Google and Yahoo, which owns part of Yahoo Japan, abandoned after the Justice Department said it would file an antitrust lawsuit to block it. While he notes that Google has said the latest deal already has been approved by Japanese authorities, Heiner said, "It will be interesting to see over the next few weeks if that is really accurate."
Google confirmed the deal with a blog post Tuesday on its Google Japan blog that was in Japanese. While the Google translation service's English text of the post was hard to understand, it did say the deal was aimed at bringing "better services for users and partners."
Microsoft gained regulatory approval in February for its own search alliance with Yahoo, which the firms said was aimed at helping them better compete against Google.
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