Microsoft Speaks Out Against Google-Yahoo! Deal

Speaking before a congressional subcommittee today, Microsoft Senior Vice President And General Counsel Brad Smith said that Yahoo!'s recent Internet search outsourcing deal with market leader Google would harm online competition and innovation. The executive also questioned the legality of the deal.

"If search is the gateway to the Internet, and most believe that it is, this deal will put Google in a position to own that gateway and the information that flows through it," he said. "Never before in the history of advertising has one company been in the position to control prices on up to 90 percent of advertising in a single medium. Not in television, not in radio, not in publishing. It should not happen on the Internet." ...