Google CEO Eric Schmidt bats for “independent“ Yahoo, slams Microsoft's bid

12 July 2008

The ongoing Yahoo-Microsoft now has a new player – Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The top executive from Microsoft's bitterest rival has waded into the debate about Microsoft's pursuit of Yahoo, saying the world would be ''better off'' if the group were to remain independent.

Speaking to reporters at the annual Allen & Co media conference in Sun Valley on Thursday, Schmidt said, ''The world is better off with an independent Yahoo. There's more competition ... in search, and more competition in the other advertising markets where Yahoo is a leader.''

He alleged the Microsoft bid for Yahoo was bad for competition. ''The moment we saw the offer from Microsoft we saw it as anti-competitive,'' he said. In an apparent reference to past regulatory investigations of Microsoft, he added: ''It's easy to understand … just look at their history.''

Not surprisingly, Microsoft had made similar noises during Google's recent advertising tie-up with Google, citing the deal will ''increase prices for advertisers and start to consolidate more than 90 per cent of the search advertising market in Google's hands'' (See: Microsoft opposes Yahoo-Google deal, reveals another rejected stake plus search offer)

In fact, the deal is currently being investigated by regulators on competition concerns. But Schmidt said the deal was not anti-competitive. ''It took a long time to come up with a deal that was reasonable for both parties that in our judgment would get through on anti-trust.''

Criticizing Microsoft's advances on Yahoo, Schmidt said, "Microsoft has a long history of having deals that look quite good and end up looking not so good when you read the fine print."