You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief on both sides of the Atlantic; the proposed deal between Google and Yahoo is looking increasingly less likely to happen, reports the FT.
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Both firms have endured long-running discussions with the Department of Justice in the US over what rivals have said is a potentially anti-competitive partnership, and a series of reports have said the two are struggling to resolve the details of that 'anti-competitiveness' during those negotiations. The longer it goes on, the less likely it seems that the alliance will take place.
The original proposal was for Yahoo to surrender some of its advertising space to Google and share revenues. That was supposed to have gone head last month and did not technically need government approval, but after furious protests from the rest of the advertising industry the two took the proposal to the DoJ anyway.
And the problem is that vast market share; Google accounts for 60% of the US web search market and Yahoo 16.6%. A combined Google/Yahoo deal would account for the majority of the market but that share could be even higher in Europe - up 90% - where Google has an even bigger share.
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising pitched in again today, welcoming the intervention of regulatory bodies in both the US and Europe.
"On behalf of our members, we want to see a robust, competitive online advertising market," said head of digital Nigel Gwilliam.
"We could not support an alliance which risked making Yahoo financially and operationally dependent on Google, in whose hands so much of the search advertising market already resides.
"The widespread opposition to this alliance and the interest of both US and EC anti-competition authorities speaks volumes."
