Online Marketing Performance

Today in a response to Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo last Friday David Drummond, Google Senior VP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, provided a statement in Google’s Press Center. The statement, entitled “Yahoo! and the future of the Internet”, opens by stating that both Google and Yahoo, as well as their customers, have benefitted from a climate of “openness” where good ideas allow businesses to grow and thrive. Google warns that this open and innovative climate is threatened by Microsoft’s Yahoo bid.

The statement directly takes critical aim at Microsoft’s history, character and intent. From Google’s statement:

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft — despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses — to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors’ email, IM, and web-based services?

Google’s statement is ‘to be expected.’ If anyone is going to be scrutinized for making a technology acquisition on such a scale it’ s Microsoft. If any one company is going to provide commentary, it’s Google. Clearly Google sees the threat in the potential marriage, and it isn’t immediately in the search realm. The statement doesn’t explicitly focus on search in and of itself because while Microsoft capturing 30% of the search landscape does create the beginnings of a threat for Google’s dominance in search, it still only adds up to about half of Google’s search share.

What Google fears is Microsoft leveraging one strong position to overcome a seemingly insurmountable force as they successfully did in the 90’s—leveraging their OS dominance to catapult their Internet Explorer browser past Netscape’s marketplace dominance. Google’s long-term concern revolves around the potential collective customer-base for web services and share of global web traffic Microsoft’s acquisition of Yahoo would create, and how those positions could combine with Microsoft’s other offerings (including its OS dominance) to create a real threat to Google’s strong foothold in search, and thus online advertising. The technology and investment communities clearly understand this. Real discomfort aside, Google’s statement is a nice podium for flying the good guy flag, especially in the wake of a year peppered with articles questioning Google’s dominant market position and trust.

Google’s statement follows murmurs on Friday that Microsoft’s bid is unwelcomed and a threat as well as reports that Yahoo has engaged Google as a potential ally in fending off the hostile takeover.

Read all of Google’s press release regarding Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo.

Tags: Google, Industry News, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Netscape, Search Engines, Yahoo