Japanese regulator approves Google-Yahoo Japan alliance
04 Dec 2010
Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), the nation's antimonopoly watchdog, has given its nod for the planned tie-up between global internet giant Google Inc and Japan's most popular website Yahoo Japan Corp, dismissing rival Microsoft Inc's concerns that the deal would hinder competition.
JFTC ruled the alliance would have no immediate problem with Japan's anti-monopoly law.
The commission initiated review of the tie-up upon requests from the US software giant Microsoft Corp and Japan's Rakuten Inc, a major online shopping site.
Google had struck the deal with Yahoo Japan earlier in July to provide the latter with search results and related advertising. (See: Google bags Yahoo Japan ad, search pact)
The tie-up offsets a 2009 deal between Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Inc, under which Yahoo agreed to use Microsoft's Bing search engine, which has become popular in the US and many of Yahoo's other locations.
Nevertheless, Yahoo Japan, whose largest stakeholder is Japan's Softbank with a 37-per cent stake, was not convinced, and opted in favour of Google's technology to power its searches. Yahoo Inc is the second-largest shareholder in Yahoo Japan with nearly 35-per cent stake.