A proposed joint venture between rival Internet companies Google Inc.
and Yahoo! Inc. appears headed for the trash bin, just ahead of an
expected U.S. Department of Justice challenge to the agreement, lawyers
close to the deal told The Daily Deal.
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Assistant Attorney General Tom Barnett met on Oct. 17 with lawyers for the parties for the second time in two weeks. The bottom line of the meeting was grim, said one lawyer who asked not to be identified.
The DOJ could file a complaint seeking a preliminary injunction on the agreement even as the parties assess their options. Antitrust lawyers said the government would have to clear a high hurdle to win a preliminary injunction. But it is even less likely that Google and Yahoo! would want to battle the government in court over such a controversial deal, particularly while the financial market is so precarious, the lawyer said.
Yahoo! reached out to Google shortly after it rejected a $44 billion offer from rival computer behemoth Microsoft Corp. earlier this year. - Cecile Kohrs Lindell
For more, see Tech Confidential
Comments
Just clears the way for someone to come in and cart off this corpse of a company (Yahoo) just before they flat line! Good work Jerry!