eBuzz - Who Said What?

Who Said What?

It's not calendared yet, but it looks as though two House committees may, either separately or together, hold hearings in the near future on the Google/Doubleclick deal. A Senate subcommittee already held a hearing the last week in September.

Representative John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and the Antitrust Task Force Subcommittee, is interested in pursuing the issue, a committee spokesperson said. Back in May, the Federal Trade Commission opened a preliminary antitrust investigation into the proposed acquisition.

Google has issued a great deal of euphoric if vague rhetoric on the deal, which would provide "new, innovative ways to make the information you want more accessible and more relevant—and to deliver it as fast as possible." How will the acquisition benefit end-users? "When done properly, advertising can be useful and provide relevant information at the precise moment when a user is interested in acquiring a service or product."

Thus avoiding all the issues that others are seeing with the merger.

If it were to happen, then Google would be, in the words of Microsoft SVP and General Counsel Brad Smith, "the overwhelmingly dominant pipeline for all forms of online advertising."

We have to say that this seems a little disingenuous. Microsoft concerned about a — dare we say the word? — monopoly? Isn't that a little like the pot calling the kettle black? The reality is that Microsoft has enjoyed a monopoly of its own all through the 90s, and is only now seeing what it's like to be on the other side of the monopoly divide. Welcome to the real world, Bill.

And that's our take on the news today!

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