Google comment on Microsoft’s “hostile” bid for Yahoo!

An interesting post was published today on Google’s official blog and it’s written by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer. It’s quite official. Here’s the core of the post:

So Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. 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.

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.

I encourage you to read the full post here: Yahoo! and the future of the Internet

Of course Microsoft answered to that and it’s quite a reasonable answer. In a statement, Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith said:

The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising, the alternative scenarios only lead to less competition on the Internet.

Smith argues that Google already has three-quarters of the paid search market and about two-thirds of U.S. search queries and 85 percent in Europe.

While I really like Google as a company and a service, I find it quite strange that they publicly criticize the potential deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft. I must say I agree with Microsoft’s answer. Since Yahoo! received the offer from Microsoft, it considered a partnership with Google and I don’t see it to be a better thing. That would obviously raise important antitrust issues and they would have to play with the definition of “partnership” for that to happen. Google has a fixation on Microsoft and while it’s really funny that they go out publicly and say Microsoft is evil, they have to be careful with that. Google is now one of the biggest company with a lot of influence on the way information is spread and they have to act like it.

Overall, the best thing for everyone is not Yahoo! to be bought by anyone. With a Microsoft deal you get that Microsoft philosophy being the biggest Internet portal and I don’t like it. On the other hand you get the biggest search engine already dominating the Internet take control of the biggest Internet portal. The best solution is to leave Yahoo! alone and keep a third competitor.