No More Google/Yahoo! Partnership

That's right... the highly anticipated union of two of the worlds biggest search engines, Google & Yahoo!, is all over.

Google has pulled the plug on the deal due to continued concerns from the Justice Department on the fairness of the deal and Google's belief that it was a courtroom fight not worth fighting.

Here is what David Drummond; Google Chief Legal Officer had to say about the situation:

...after four months of review, including discussions of various possible changes to the agreement, it's clear that government regulators and some advertisers continue to have concerns about the agreement. 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.

If you would like to read more from David regarding the deal, then click here.

Not surprisingly, Yahoo! is not happy with the news. Here is an excerpt from the press release they issued regarding the termination:

...Google has terminated the advertising services agreement the companies announced in June. Yahoo! continues to believe in the benefits of the agreement and is disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw from the agreement rather than defend it in court. Google notified Yahoo! of its refusal to move forward with implementation of the agreement following indication from the Department of Justice that it would seek to block it, despite Yahoo!'s proposed revisions to address the DOJ's concerns.

So where does this leave Yahoo!? Will Microsoft come back into the picture with a new takeover offer? Well, I guess we will have to wait to see who makes the next move.

Posted by Courtney Mills
From: www.ineedhits.com