Google's take over of ITA approved with riders

Google Inc 's planned $700-million acquisition of ITA Software received tentative approval of the US Justice Department yesterday. However, this comes with conditions that highlight the growing concern of the government about the search giant's market power.

The DOJ in a strong comment said the originally proposed purchase of the flight information company would have "substantially lessened competition" among comparative flight search websites in the US, undermining choice and innovation for consumers.

With the firm's software, users can access flight schedules and pricing information that people use when they book flights online.

The software is being used by a large number of airlines and online travel services, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Hotwire, Orbitz, Kayak and Microsoft Corp's Bing search engine.

Many companies in the internet travel space had argued that with Google getting control of the Cambridge, Mass, company, it would manipulate access in such a way as to ensure it would be at an advantage over the rest in the sector.

The deal was under the DOJ scanner for the better part of nine months, and in a rare instance warranted a second request for information. It had also threatened to block the deal.