Microsoft Urges Review of Google-DoubleClick Deal
”
Microsoft, a veteran defendant of epic antitrust battles in the United States and Europe, is urging regulators to consider scuttling Google’s plan to buy DoubleClick, an online advertising company.
Bradford L. Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, said in an interview yesterday that Google’s purchase of DoubleClick would combine the two largest online advertising distributors and thus “substantially reduce competition in the advertising market on the Web.”
Google dismissed Microsoft’s assertions. Microsoft was one of the companies, along with Yahoo and Time Warner, that lost out to Google in the bidding for DoubleClick. Early last year, Google complained to regulators that the design of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser steered users to Microsoft’s MSN search engine instead of rival search offerings from Google and Yahoo.
In that case, Google did talk to antitrust officials in Europe and the United States. Mr. Smith said Microsoft had not yet approached antitrust officials in the United States about its worries about Google’s purchase of DoubleClick.
”
Summary Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16soft.html