Google billionaire co-founder Larry Page said Thursday the Internet
search leader opposed a Microsoft-Yahoo deal because it would
monopolize the online communications market, stifle innovation and curb
competition.
But he discounted the idea that an advertising deal
between Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. – one the two companies are now
exploring – would present any potential antitrust problems.
In a
rare visit to the nation’s capital, Page spoke at a forum sponsored by
the New American Foundation think tank about expanding affordable
access to high-speed Internet service and opening up cellular networks
to more applications, services and devices.
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The territory was
friendly as Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt was recently elected
chairman of think tank, which counts telecommunications and technology
policy in its varied body of work. Schmidt, a board member since 1999,
was not at the talk.
Page said a successful Microsoft-Yahoo deal
would have closed ”a lot of things that are really important … like
instant messaging.”
Microsoft Corp. had sought to buy Yahoo for
$47.5 billion as a way to counter Google Inc.’s dominance in the search
and advertising market, but recently broke off talks.
”Now, if
you put 90 percent of the communications all in one company … that’s
really a big risk, especially one (Microsoft) that has a history of
doing bad stuff,” he said.
Court oversight of Microsoft’s market
power began in 2002 after an antitrust settlement was reached among
Microsoft, the federal government and 17 states, barring the software
maker from seeking deals with computer makers to exclude rival
software. It was intended to also keep the company from using its
operating system monopoly to hinder competition in other products.
Microsoft also faces scrutiny in the European Union, where regulators
have opened two antitrust probes.
Google and Yahoo are exploring
a long-term alliance to show Google ads alongside Yahoo search results
after a two-week trial last month showed Google’s technology could help
boost Yahoo’s profits.
Antitrust obstacles can’t be ruled out, as the two companies control more than 80 percent of the U.S. search advertising market.
While
he said Google has a large advertising share, ”there are ways in which
to structure a deal with Yahoo that will be reasonable … especially
given the alternatives they have, which aren’t great either.”
Page
also made the white-space case, talking up Google’s push to use fallow
TV airwaves, or so-called white spaces, for affordable broadband
service and other similar initiatives. He also said Google is
participating in a government spectrum auction to open up cellular
networks to more devices, applications and services.
Google
strongly supports such initiatives, he said, because it would increase
competition, spur better innovative products and provide more Internet
access, generating greater revenue for the Mountain View, Calif.-based
company.
Michael Calabrese, a vice president with the think tank,
earlier said the Google co-founder met with lawmakers and Federal
Communications Commission officials, but Page later declined to give
disclose any names or any details of his Washington itinerary.
