Legal News

Avoiding Risk of ?Protracted Legal Battle,? Google Ejects from Yahoo Deal

By Dan Slater

The embattled deal that would’ve allowed Yahoo to display search ads sold by Google and to share some revenue has finally found the dustbin. Here’s the WSJ story.

“Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners. That wouldn’t have been in the long term interests of Google or our users, so we have decided to end the agreement,” Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote on the company’s public policy blog.

The WSJ could not reach a Yahoo spokesman for comment.

In September, the DOJ hired Sandy Litvack, a former Walt Disney vice chairman and recently-resigned Hogan & Hartson partner, to handle a possible antitrust challenge to Google’s online advertising juggernaut. Then, last month, it looked like Google and Yahoo might strike a settlement with the government.

Google’s Drummond wrote on the blog that abandoning the bid wasn’t “legally necessary” but “the right thing to do because Google and Yahoo have been successful in online advertising and we realized that any cooperation between us would attract attention.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 05, 2008 (boomark / email).