In a direct communication with customers and users, Google, which dominates the search market with a global share of more than 70 per cent, questions whether Microsoft can be trusted not to use the deal to crush competition and innovation.
“Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions,” said Google’s senior vice-president for corporate development and chief legal officer David Drummond in a post on the company’s official blog.
“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,” Mr Drummond said.
Microsoft on late Friday made a hostile takeover bid for Yahoo! offering US$44.6 billion for the number two search company.
Google’s response has been immediate, pushing for regulators to closely scrutising any take-over.
“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,” Google’s Mr Drummond wrote on the official blog.
“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?”
Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith issued a statement yesterday countering the Google suggestions, saying the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo would create a more competitive market by establishing a more credible number two search company.
“Today, Google is the dominant search engine and advertising company on the Web. Google has amassed about 75 percent of paid search revenues worldwide and its share continues to grow,” Mr Smith said. “According to published reports, Google currently has more than 65 percent search query share in the U.S. and more than 85 percent in Europe.”
“Microsoft is committed to openness, innovation, and the protection of privacy on the Internet. We believe that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! will advance these goals,” he said.
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