You may recall that back on November 5, Google cited regulatory concerns when it washed its hands of the pending Yahoo!/Google deal. It now appears that these regulatory concerns amounted to knowledge that the world’s largest internet firm was just hours away from being charged by the DOJ for antitrust practices.
Sanford Litvack of law firm Hogan & Hartson temporarily left the firm in September in order to act as a consultant for the US DOJ’s antitrust division in challenging the agreement. In an interview with American Law, Litvack revealed some details of his time in reviewing the case. “We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day,” he said. “We told them we were going to file the complaint at that time of day. Three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement.”
Concerns regarding Google’s growth into a potential monopoly were outed with a November 5 DOJ press release. The report, released the day Google abandoned their bid, illustrated that Google owned a significant share of the search and advertising market.
“The Department’s investigation revealed that Internet search advertising and Internet search syndication are each relevant antitrust markets and that Google is by far the largest provider of such services, with shares of more than 70 percent in both markets,” the report read.
If the deal had been executed, it would have permitted Google to collectively own more than 90 percent of markets relevant to the two internet firms.
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