Lawmaker’s To Examine Microsoft’s Yahoo Bid
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American lawmakers said they will examine Microsoft Corp.’s proposed $44.6 billion takeover of Yahoo! Inc. to determine whether the combination would hurt competition and consumer privacy.
The House subcommittee that oversees consumer protection will request a confidential briefing from regulators as part of a broader probe into consolidation in online advertising, the committee’s leaders said today in an e-mailed statement.
Microsoft, the largest software maker, made its unsolicited offer for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo on February 1, a move to combine the second- and third-biggest Web search providers. The companies have some of the most popular e-mail and instant messaging programs, and both sell graphical display ads.
Buying Yahoo, the owner of the most-visited group of Web sites in America, would help Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft quadruple sales from online advertising.
“The recent announcement by Microsoft demonstrates that consolidation of companies in the Internet advertising world will continue, irrespective of whether this specific deal materializes,” Representative Bobby Rush of Illinois, who heads the panel, said in the statement.
Mr. Rush, a Democrat, made the announcement with Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, the committee’s senior Republican.
Microsoft lost $1.12 to $29.07 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Yahoo fell 35 cents to $28.98. Google gained $11.37 to $506.80.
