Yahoo's Fate Unclear as Google Abandons Ad Deal

(AP Graphic)

Facing a legal battle that would have illuminated its widening market power, Google Inc. turned its back on its struggling rival Yahoo Inc. and pulled the plug on an Internet advertising partnership that had been conceived to keep Yahoo out of Microsoft Corp.'s clutches.

The retreat announced Wednesday represented another setback for Yahoo, which had been counting on the Google deal to boost its finances and placate shareholders still incensed by management's decision to reject a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft six months ago.

To Yahoo's dismay, Google backed off to avoid a challenge from the U.S. Justice Department, which said it would sue to block the Yahoo deal to preserve competition in Internet advertising. Attorneys general from 15 states and Canada's antitrust regulators also loomed as potential adversaries.

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"The arrangement likely would have denied consumers the benefits of competition — lower prices, better service and greater innovation," said Thomas Barnett, an assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department's antitrust division.

Without Google's help, Yahoo now might feel more pressure to renew talks with Microsoft and ultimately sell itself for much less than the $33 per share that Microsoft offered in May. Yahoo closed Wednesday afternoon at $13.92, gaining more than 4 percent in a move reflecting investor hopes that Microsoft might renew its pursuit.

Surrendering the chance to sell ads on Yahoo's popular Web site won't be a significant financial blow for Google, which already runs the Internet's largest and most prosperous advertising network.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company's main incentive for entering the deal was to thwart Microsoft, which had been stalking Yahoo to mount a more serious challenge to Google on the Web. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin also wanted to help Yahoo founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, who had encouraged them to turn their search engine into a business more than a decade ago.