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Behind Nearly Every Google Complaint? A Lobbyist And A Flailing Competitor
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| Plenty of folks have been sending in links to Wired's article on The Plot to
| Kill Google, which basically shows how both Microsoft and AT&T -- two
| companies scared to death by Google, are now working hard not to build better
| products to beat Google in the marketplace -- but on hiring better lobbyists
| and marketers to try to destroy public perception of Google.
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http://techdirt.com/articles/20090120/1139403462.shtml
The Plot to Kill Google
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| Google's capitulation marked a rare defeat for the search giant, which has
| been almost as successful among the regulators of Washington as among the
| coders of Silicon Valley. And it was cause for celebration in Redmond, where
| Microsoft spent six months on a massive effort, costing millions of dollars,
| to block the Yahoo deal. Microsoft played a role in persuading members of
| Congress to hold hearings. It initiated a campaign that filled DOJ mailboxes
| with letters from politicians and nonprofit groups objecting to the deal. It
| convinced the country's largest advertisers to join together to oppose the
| company in public. It's impossible to know exactly what impact all this had
| on the DOJ decision. But many observers believe that Barnett, who declined to
| be interviewed for this article, was influenced in part by Microsoft's
| arguments.
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http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-02/ff_killgoogle?currentPage=all
Microsoft gives the boogeyman and Scientology nightmares. Time for thwe secret
services to crack down.
Recent:
Microsoft and Google face off in Washington
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| The farmers may have had another reason. Rudy Arredondo, the chief executive
| of the Latino farmers group, confirmed that his organization became involved
| in the issue after talking to lobbyists at the Raben Group. The Raben Group
| received $30,000 this spring to lobby against the deal - from Google's rival,
| Microsoft, which wanted to buy Yahoo.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/19/business/lobby20.php
Microsoft’s Role In GOOG-YHOO Delay: Outlobbying
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| Meanwhile, Microsoft spent the intervening months lobbying everyone—
| regulators, other lobbyists, anyone who might be willing to raise a doubt
| about the anti-competitive possibilities. In the process, they drew some
| support—or at least, some doubt-raising—from some of those who gave the
| Redmond company grief over anti-trust issues.
|
| [...]
|
| Google both blames Microsoft for working “hard from behind the scenes to
| generate much of the opposition to this deal” and tries to dismiss it. And
| Microsoft doesn’t want credit for this one, with a spokesman telling the
| Times: “There’s an old rule in debate: if you’re not winning on substance,
| talk about the process.”
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http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-microsoft-outsmarted-complacent-google-in-dc/
Microsoft uses D.C. muscle to squash Google-Yahoo deal
http://blogs.computerworld.com/microsoft_uses_d_c_muscle_to_squash_google_yahoo_deal
Is Microsoft showing Google the legislative ropes?
http://www.cio-weblog.com/50226711/is_microsoft_showing_google_the_legislative_ropes.php
Google-Yahoo Deal Needs Oversight, Senator Says
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| "Recognizing the nascent and fast-changing nature of this marketplace, we
| encourage the department to continue to monitor the state of competition in
| this industry, whatever the outcome of its current investigation," Kohl wrote
| in his letter. "If, over time, you determine that Google is gaining a
| dominant market position as a result of the Google-Yahoo agreement, then we
| would encourage the Justice Department to intervene to protect competition.
| Even should you conclude at present that this deal is not contrary to
| antitrust law, the department must be sure that this deal never in the future
| crosses the line into an unacceptable, anti-competitive collaboration among
| competitors which will harm consumers and advertisers."
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http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210605609
Yahoo joins Google in defending ad deal
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| "Here's the bottom line," Decker wrote late last week. "Yahoo will use this
| agreement to help us become a stronger competitor in all aspects of online
| advertising; and Yahoo is not exiting the sponsored search business. We plan
| to remain a strong player in sponsored search."
|
| [...]
|
| Early on, she takes issue with a statistic thrown around by Microsoft that
| the deal gives Google 90 percent share of the search-ad market, a statistic
| that derives from combining the two companies' individual share. "That's just
| plain wrong," she said. "It's important to note that the agreement is
| non-exclusive and gives us the option to 'backfill' with Google ads if and
| when we see fit. The reason we structured the deal this way--rather than a
| more typical exclusive deal with revenue commitments to us and traffic
| commitments to Google--was precisely to avoid the issues the critics are
| raising."
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10053365-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Google Gets 70% of U.S. Searches
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| But Google's gain led to lower numbers for other search companies. Yahoo Inc.
| received 19.62% of U.S. searches in June, down from 21.31% last year, while
| MSN Search received 5.46%, down from 9.85% in June 2007.
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http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/148649/google_gets_70_of_us_searches.html
Microsoft shifts its search to AOL
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| "To remain competitive in online advertising Microsoft needs to quickly
| expand its footprint on the internet. But there is a limited number of large
| internet companies or operations to buy."
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http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business/Microsoft-shifts---its.4306016.jp
Ballmer Still Searching for an Answer to Google
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| "Forty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux," he said. "How
| are we doing? Forty is less than 60, so I don't like it. ... We have some
| work to do."
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http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/151568/ballmer_still_searching_for_an_answer_to_google.html
Live Searches Drop Below 1 Billion
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| August U.S. search share data shows ugly declines for Microsoft in 2008.
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http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/advertising_search/live_searches_drop_below_1_billion.html
Icahn takes his seat at Yahoo table
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| Yahoo's reconstituted board is expected to meet for the first time tomorrow,
| with activist member Carl Icahn committed to renewing the pressure for a deal
| with Microsoft.
|
| Mr Icahn, the billionaire investor, and two allies were elected after Yahoo's
| annual meeting on August 1 in a deal that ended a proxy fight he had led to
| unseat the board.
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2d6e4456-883f-11dd-b114-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
The Secret Microsoft Invasion of Yahoo Continues: MSN GM Headed There Soon?
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| Jeff Dossett, a longtime Microsoft exec whose most current job has been as
| executive producer and general manager of MSN, is leaving the company,
| sources said, and is likely to land at Yahoo soon.
|
| A longtime and experienced mountain climber, Dossett (pictured here) has been
| one of the more senior digital execs at Microsoft.
|
| The reason given for Dossett’s departure from Microsoft (MSFT), announced
| internally this afternoon, was to “pursue other opportunities.”
|
| While the hire is not yet complete, that apparently means that he is likely
| going to rival and onetime Microsoft quarry Yahoo as a senior exec.
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http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080919/the-secret-microsoft-invasion-of-yahoo-continues-msn-gm-headed-to-yahoo/
Google Blames Microsoft for Yahoo! Deal Controversy
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| Schmidt thinks that rival Microsoft is largely to blame for the amount of
| controversy the deal has attracted. "I am quite sure that Microsoft is
| helping everyone get upset about things," he said.
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http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/09/18/google-blames-microsoft-for-yahoo-deal-controversy
Corn Farmers Against Google?
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| Only if they're planting in AstroTurf
|
| [...]
|
| How do you know the organization, and the op-ed, weren't created by LawMedia
| Group at the behest of some well-funded clients? If they did their jobs
| right, you don't know.
|
| Some of them have left digital fingerprints here and there, though, says
| Declan McCullagh, in a blockbuster of a report exposing the intellectual
| whoredom offered for various important issues. Shortly after Microsoft hired
| LawMedia, for example, legislators, national agencies, and news outlets
| received pointed complaints from coalitions of farmers, rural voters, and
| geeky Latinos about how Google's advertising deal with Yahoo would wreck
| everything.
|
| [...]
|
| Don't call them a PR firm or a lobbying firm though, Law Media – which has a
| ton of lawyers working for them too—is a "public affairs firm" specializing
| in producing "remarkable coalitions" for anything one might need a coalition
| for.
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http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/08/14/corn-farmers-against-google
Google/Yahoo web ad deal on track despite anti-trust scrutiny
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| Google says its web advertising deal with Yahoo is on schedule and will not
| be derailed by US anti-trust scrutiny.
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http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/08/29/232070/googleyahoo-web-ad-deal-on-track-despite-anti-trust.htm
Icahn and Microsoft to oust Yahoo board
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| CORPORATE RAIDER Carl Icahn and convicted monopolist Microsoft have asked
| Yahoo shareholders to vote out Yahoo's board and install Icahn's proposed
| slate of replacements.
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http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/07/icahn-microsoft-team-oust-yahoo
Microsoft cops to talking with Icahn on Yahoo
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| Dispensing with its previous above-the-fray posture, Microsoft has
| admitted -conspiring with- talking to activist Yahoo shareholder Carl Icahn,
| who is trying to oust the Internet company's board and Chief Executive Jerry
| Yang for failing to sell out to the software giant.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/06/microsoft-talki.html
Yahoo: Icahn “Manipulates The Facts”
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| The company also says it is “patently untrue” that the company turned down an
| offer of $40 a share from Microsoft and sabotaged the later offer of $33. The
| letter contends that Yahoo’s board “has at all times been focused on
| maximizing shareholder value.”
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http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2008/06/05/yahoo-ichan-manipulates-the-facts/?mod=googlenews_barrons
http://tinyurl.com/64nvv5
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