Google troubled by Microsoft move
February 5, 2008
Google has said it finds Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid to buy rival Yahoo “troubling” and wants regulators to scrutinise the proposed deal.
Google said the tie-up could unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors’ email and instant messaging services. It said Microsoft had previously sought “to establish proprietary monopolies”.
“Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions,” said David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer. “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,” he said in a company blog.
Reuters, quoting a source familiar with Yahoo’s strategy, said that Yahoo would consider a business alliance with Google as one way to fight the take-over.
Other sources suggest that preliminary contact has been made by media, technology, telephone and financial companies.