Antitrust

After sparring for two years over antitrust issues, Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. are preparing for the main event: a lobbying showdown over the fate of Yahoo Inc. Google, which has bulked up its presence in the nation's capital, has started raising concerns about the antitrust implications of Microsoft's proposed $44.6-billion takeover of Yahoo. Analysts said it could ask regulators to stop the deal.

European Union antitrust regulators raided an Intel Corp. office and computer retailers Tuesday in search of evidence they may have broken rules to ensure competition in the market for computer chips, the European Commission and Intel said. Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy confirmed that the company's Munich, Germany, office had been raided and said the company would cooperate closely with the investigation.

The record $1.36-billion fine Microsoft Corp. must pay the European Union won't buy the software company much peace. Wednesday's penalty, which amounts to almost one-third of Microsoft's last quarterly profit, officially closes a nine-year antitrust battle with European regulators that has cost the company a total of $2.5 billion in fines. But those regulators are still pursuing two new investigations into the software giant's business practices.

A bipartisan group of 15 senators wants to reverse changes to media ownership rules made in December, a potential problem for Tribune Co. and other companies with newspapers and broadcast stations in the same city. Legislation by Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) would invalidate the Federal Communications Commission's controversial decision to ease the so-called cross-ownership ban. By a partisan 3-2 vote, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, a Republican, pushed through a plan to allow newspaper and broadcast combinations in the top 20 markets and, critics say, make it easier for cross-ownership in smaller markets.

Yahoo Inc.'s short experiment with outsourcing some of its Web-search ads to Google Inc. has drawn scrutiny from antitrust regulators, the companies said Wednesday. Yahoo and Google said they had provided the Justice Department with unspecified information in response to questions about the two-week test, which was designed to explore how a possible collaboration could help Yahoo thwart Microsoft Corp.'s takeover bid. Microsoft is busy planning its next move in the buyout fight for Yahoo.

Merging Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. would probably result in fewer than 1,000 job cuts and more domestic service while not blunting U.S. competition, the chief executives of both carriers told Congress. Richard Anderson of Delta and Douglas Steenland of Northwest also said in hearings of antitrust committees in the Senate and the House that the combination would enable the two to better compete with foreign airlines and counter skyrocketing fuel prices.

The Justice Department said its antitrust division had ended its investigation of Molson Coors Brewing Co. and SABMiller's proposed joint venture to market and distribute beer in the U.S. The division concluded that the joint venture would not reduce competition. Milwaukee-based Miller and Denver-based Molson Coors announced in October that they would form MillerCoors, aimed at helping them compete against Anheuser-Busch Cos., which has about half the U.S. market.

OMAHA -- What happens when advocacy intersects with the legal system? "You know, if I was to respond to that question I would be responding in a way that would give away some of our strategy and I'm just not prepared to do that yet," USA Swimming's Mark Schubert said. The question, in fact, was a bit more complicated on Friday after at a luncheon here at the Mutual of Omaha Plaza Building during the four-day Swimvitational, a test event for the U.S. Olympic swim trials.

As if the battle over the fate of Yahoo Inc. didn't have enough drama, a Microsoft Corp. executive Tuesday accused Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang of acknowledging during a private meeting that the company's Web search advertising deal with Google Inc. would reduce competition. The testimony by Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith roiled a Senate subcommittee hearing on the proposed Yahoo-Google deal, which was also the subject of a House subcommittee hearing.

Drug company Abbott Laboratories said it would pay $10 million to $27.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed by AIDS patients over the company's 400% price hike for Norvir, a key component in drug "cocktails" used to treat the disease. The class-action lawsuit was set for trial in federal court in Oakland next month. The company had faced having to pay as much as $1 billion in damages if the judge found that Abbott hiked the price of the drug to stifle competition. A federal judge still has to approve the settlement.