Google Readies Defense of Yahoo Ad Deal

An advertising deal between Google and Yahoo is certain to stir the Justice Department’s antitrust division into action, no matter what the two do to address concerns, experts anticipating a partnership between the two Internet leaders tell the New York Times. Google says a deal would simply be a supply matter, with parallels in other industries.

Google is proposing to place its ads next to Yahoo search results, which could be worth $1 billion a year to Yahoo. Google says it’s no different than Canon supplying printer engines to rival HP, a form of "co-opetition." Some antitrust experts feel differently. “A transaction like this, I think, is fundamentally anticompetitive,” one attorney says. (More Yahoo stories.)