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Google voices Yahoo! bid concerns
Eric Schmidt speaks

By Reuters

Published: Monday 17 March 2008

Google, the world's leading search engine, has said it is concerned about the free flow of information on the internet if Microsoft were to succeed in acquiring Yahoo!.

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Last month, Microsoft proposed buying Yahoo! in a deal originally worth $44.6bn, but Yahoo!'s board has rejected the offer, saying it was too low.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said: "We would be concerned by any kind of acquisition of Yahoo! by Microsoft."

He added: "We would hope that anything they did would be consistent with the openness of the internet, but I doubt it would be."

Schmidt pointed to Microsoft's past history and "the things that it has done that have been so difficult for everyone", but he did not elaborate.

Last year, a European court upheld a landmark 2004 decision that Microsoft abused the power of its Windows operating system to damage competitors, along with a €497m fine.

Schmidt said: "We are concerned that there are things Microsoft could do that would be bad for the internet."

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer pledged earlier this month that his company would gain market share against Google in online advertising and web searching, even if it led to his "last breath" at the company.