DOJ explains why it would have sued to block Google-Yahoo if Google had not withdrawn

The DOJ released a statement explaining why it would have sued to block the Google-Yahoo ad partnership had Google not backed out of the arrangement.

In a nutshell, the DOJ said it was prepared to sue in Federal Court to block the proposed Google-Yahoo ad partnership because the DOJ concluded that:

• The proposed agreement was anti-competitive and illegal;
• Google has dominant market power in two "relevant anti-trust markets":
  • Internet search advertising, and
  • Internet search syndication;
• Yahoo would have become a collaborator with Google rather than a competitor "materially reducing important competitive rivalry between" Google and Yahoo.

Bottom line:

Google has hit a very real antitrust wall. More importantly it is now front and center on the DOJ's radar screen as an aspiring Internet advertising monopolist willing to push the antitrust envelope -- unless the DOJ steps in to preserve Internet competition. 

While Google may not realize it, the world is now a very different place for Google -- it no longer has free rein to do whatever it pleases.