Google opposes Microsoft's bid on Yahoo

It doesn't really come as a surprise but Google is trying to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Yahoo. Yesterday Google's Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond published a post on Google's blog to attack Microsoft's hostile bid on Yahoo:

So Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

We also heard that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt is in talks with Yahoo's chief Jerry Yang to aid in fending off Microsoft. Yahoo hasn't responded to Microsoft yet, their management says they need more time to decide what they're going to do.