Search Engine Marketing News
Google-Yahoo! search ad deal called off
Thursday, 6 November 2008Regulatory concerns have prompted Google to call of its search engine marketing agreement with Yahoo!.
The deal was first announced in June this year and was formed to allow Yahoo! to display Google's ads on its own search results pages.
However, the two companies were forced to delay the start of the agreement to allow regulators extra time to look over the deal, which had raised fears over competition and ad prices.
After considering the possibility of amending the agreement's terms to accommodate these concerns, Google has now decided not to go ahead with the partnership.
Writing on the Official Google Blog, senior vice-president of corporate development and chief legal officer at Google David Drummond said: "Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners."
Yahoo! said in its own statement that it was "disappointed" Google had decided to cancel the deal rather than go to court over it.