In a corporate emulation of dumping a lover by sending a text message to end the relationship, a method much favoured by 'C-List" celebs, Google has taken the coward's way of terminating its much-vaunted search-engine advertising deal with Yahoo! and announced it to its putative partner and the rest of the world in, of all things, a blog!
The Cookie Monster says it is jilting its would-be mate to avoid what it describes as "a protracted legal battle" with US regulators who have been examining the proposed alliance under the provisions of America's anti-trust legislation.
Google has left Yahoo! if not exactly at the altar then certainly halfway up the aisle after getting cold feet brought on by four months of protracted negotiations with the US Department of Justice that came to naught.
The Google blog added that continuing with the deal would "also damage relationships with valued partners and that would not be in the long-term interests of Google or our users, so we have decided to end the agreement."
It is hard to imagine where Yahoo! might go now and even how long it might be able to continue to exist as an independent entity. It had bet its shirt and future on the tie-up whereby Google was to provide Yahoo! and its various partner websites with search advertising across the entirety of North America. And now Microsoft, whose advances Yahoo! so determinedly spurned, is lurking in the vestry.
Yahoo's star has been on the wane for some time and, back in June, the company agreed to get into bed with Google as the only way to fend-off the persistent but unwanted attentions (unwanted by some anyway) of Microsoft and to benefit from the additional revenues (estimated at some US$800 million a year) that would accrue as a result of the marriage.
However, advertisers came out strongly against the alliance and lobbied the US authorities to ban it on the grounds that it was anti-competitive and would inevitably result in increased prices for search ads.
For its part, Yahoo! last night tried to reassure its investors and customers by saying the jilting will have "minimal impact on our strategy". And if you believe that.....
However, the price of Yahoo's shares rose dramatically as the rumour that the company's CEO, Jerry Yang, had resigned circulated and gained momentum. The shares fell back later when the scutttlebutt was denied, but still managed to bob around at the $14.37 point - up by about seven per cent and higher than they have been in a long time. Nonetheless, Mr.
» This story continues on page 2. Please click here to read
please sign in to rate this article
44090