Search Advertising

A group representing big-spending national advertisers said Sunday that it had sent a letter to the Justice Department asserting that an online ad partnership between Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. would stifle competition and probably raise prices. The Assn. of National Advertisers said on its website that the letter to Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's antitrust division, came after a "comprehensive, independent analysis" and meetings with Google and Yahoo executives.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google is officially a member of the exclusive $1,000 club. After being weighed down in recent months by concerns about declining advertising prices, Google is soaring after better-than-expected third-quarter results on Thursday. Google's stock crossed the $1,000 mark for the first time on Friday. Google shares were trading up nearly 13%, or $115.26, to $1,004.06. Earlier in the day, they traded as high as $1,007.40. Fueling investor fervor for the search giant: The company keeps minting money despite investors' worries that its search advertising business will tumble as consumers spend more time on mobile devices, on which ads are cheaper and less effective than on desktop computers.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google is officially a member of the exclusive $1,000 club. After being weighed down in recent months by concerns about declining advertising prices, Google is soaring after better-than-expected third-quarter results on Thursday. Google's stock crossed the $1,000 mark for the first time on Friday. Google shares were trading up nearly 13%, or $115.26, to $1,004.06. Earlier in the day, they traded as high as $1,007.40. Fueling investor fervor for the search giant: The company keeps minting money despite investors' worries that its search advertising business will tumble as consumers spend more time on mobile devices, on which ads are cheaper and less effective than on desktop computers.

SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc.'s quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations as the technology giant continued to grow its mobile advertising business, propelling its shares into record territory. The company keeps minting money despite investors' worries that its search advertising business will take a tumble as consumers spend more time on mobile devices, on which ads are cheaper and less effective than on desktop computers. As with competitors Facebook Inc. and Yahoo Inc., Google has come under pressure from investors as more consumers access the Internet from smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft Corp. has withdrawn its $43-billion bid for Yahoo, at least for now, in the face of the Yahoo board's demand for billions of dollars more. The withdrawal cheered Yahoo executives and opponents of the takeover, most notably Google, whose dominance over some kinds of online advertising was threatened by the pairing. But if Yahoo responds by joining forces with Google, consumers and advertisers might end up worse off than had the Microsoft deal gone through.

SAN FRANCISCO -- It's not such a happy anniversary for Marissa Mayer, who just polished off her first year at the helm of Yahoo. Shares of Yahoo are down 2% after the company released a second-quarter earnings report that showed revenue fell 7% year over year to $1.14 billion, giving investors very little to yodel about. Analysts had expected disappointing numbers. The June quarter reflects the tough challenge facing Mayer as she attempts to turn around the aging Internet company that continues to trail competitors Facebook and Google: a steady decline in Yahoo's advertising business.

WASHINGTON - The top European antitrust official said Monday that an investigation has found Google Inc. may have abused its online dominance to squelch competition and offered the company a chance to settle the allegations to avoid formal charges. "I believe that these fast-moving markets would particularly benefit from a quick resolution of the competition issues identified," said Joaquín Almunia, the head of competition policy for the European Commission. "Restoring competition swiftly to the benefit of users at an early stage is always preferable to lengthy proceedings, although these sometimes become indispensable to competition enforcement.

Google Inc., the company behind the Web's most popular search engine, is working on a home entertainment device, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. And reports say that device will stream music wirelessly in people's homes. Google plans to test 252 of the devices in its employees' homes in Mountain View, Calif., where it has its headquarters; in Los Angeles; in New York; and in Cambridge, Mass. The device uses wireless home networks and "requires testing outside the laboratory environment," the filing said.

Yahoo and Facebook have put down their arms and are settling a bitter legal fight over patents, preempting a nasty court battle between two Silicon Valley giants who used to be on much friendlier terms. The truce calls for a deeper advertising partnership between the companies and cross-licensing of patents, but no money will change hands, according to All Things D which was first to report the news. Charging a violation of patents, Yahoo, at the direction of since-ousted Chief Executive Scott Thompson, sued Facebook, one of its biggest rivals for advertising dollars, in March, two months before the social networking company's stock market debut.

Google Inc. got its groove back Tuesday. The Internet search giant's stock jumped more than 6% as it closed its long-awaited $3.1-billion purchase of online advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. The deal, which cleared its last hurdle with unconditional approval from European regulators, could dramatically boost Google's presence in a lucrative online advertising segment it does not dominate. Although Google rules the market for targeted text ads that are linked to search results on its own and others' websites, New York-based DoubleClick is a leading provider of technology to deliver elaborate, targeted display ads to websites.

SAN FRANCISCO -- It's not such a happy anniversary for Marissa Mayer, who just polished off her first year at the helm of Yahoo. Shares of Yahoo are down 2% after the company released a second-quarter earnings report that showed revenue fell 7% year over year to $1.14 billion, giving investors very little to yodel about. Analysts had expected disappointing numbers. The June quarter reflects the tough challenge facing Mayer as she attempts to turn around the aging Internet company that continues to trail competitors Facebook and Google: a steady decline in Yahoo's advertising business.

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc.'s first-quarter earnings report was seen by some as an early test of Marissa Mayer's ability to turn around the troubled Internet company. Investors now seem to be worried Mayer might not pass that test. Shares that have surged more than 50% since Mayer took over Yahoo in July plunged more than 4% to $22.78 in extended trading Tuesday after the company reported that its display advertising business had suffered declining revenue for the second straight quarter.

Ross Levinsohn is looking more and more like Yahoo's golden boy. He personally negotiated an end to the patent warfare with Facebook, walking away with no cash but a strategic agreement that could boost Yahoo's flagging fortunes. The deal was officially announced Friday. The peace pact with Facebook signed and sealed, Levinsohn is now the frontrunner for the top job at Yahoo, said a person familiar with the discussions but not authorized to speak about it publicly. Levinsohn ended the hostilities that then-Chief Executive Scott Thompson started in March, alleging that Facebook was infringing on Yahoo patents.

Yahoo and Facebook have put down their arms and are settling a bitter legal fight over patents, preempting a nasty court battle between two Silicon Valley giants who used to be on much friendlier terms. The truce calls for a deeper advertising partnership between the companies and cross-licensing of patents, but no money will change hands, according to All Things D which was first to report the news. Charging a violation of patents, Yahoo, at the direction of since-ousted Chief Executive Scott Thompson, sued Facebook, one of its biggest rivals for advertising dollars, in March, two months before the social networking company's stock market debut.

WASHINGTON - The top European antitrust official said Monday that an investigation has found Google Inc. may have abused its online dominance to squelch competition and offered the company a chance to settle the allegations to avoid formal charges. "I believe that these fast-moving markets would particularly benefit from a quick resolution of the competition issues identified," said Joaquín Almunia, the head of competition policy for the European Commission. "Restoring competition swiftly to the benefit of users at an early stage is always preferable to lengthy proceedings, although these sometimes become indispensable to competition enforcement.

Google Inc., the company behind the Web's most popular search engine, is working on a home entertainment device, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. And reports say that device will stream music wirelessly in people's homes. Google plans to test 252 of the devices in its employees' homes in Mountain View, Calif., where it has its headquarters; in Los Angeles; in New York; and in Cambridge, Mass. The device uses wireless home networks and "requires testing outside the laboratory environment," the filing said.

Google Inc.'s first-quarter profit jumped 37% and topped analysts' estimates, but it still wasn't enough for Wall Street. Shares of the Internet giant slumped nearly $29, or about 5%, in after-hours trading, after having climbed to $595.30 before the earnings were announced Thursday. "They didn't beat the 'wow' number," said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Financial. Jefferies & Co. analyst Youssef Squali said Google delivered a solid quarter, signaling that consumer spending and online advertising continue to rebound.

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc.'s first-quarter earnings report was seen by some as an early test of Marissa Mayer's ability to turn around the troubled Internet company. Investors now seem to be worried Mayer might not pass that test. Shares that have surged more than 50% since Mayer took over Yahoo in July plunged more than 4% to $22.78 in extended trading Tuesday after the company reported that its display advertising business had suffered declining revenue for the second straight quarter.

Running the world's most popular search engine has brought Google Inc. wealth, market share and now antitrust scrutiny. After a chorus of complaints from rivals, federal regulators, state attorneys general and foreign governments are looking at whether its dominance of the Internet is harming consumers and shutting out competitors, much the way they scrutinized Microsoft Corp. a decade ago. Google acknowledged in a regulatory filing Friday that the Federal Trade Commission had launched a formal investigation into its business practices, including search and advertising.

MySpace and Google Inc. have renewed and expanded their search and advertising relationship under a long-term deal that no longer assures the social network lucrative guaranteed payments, according to a person familiar with the matter. Google will continue to provide search and the advertising related to it on MySpace, as it has since 2006, and will begin also offering display advertising services. MySpace will join the Google Display Network, a group of more than 1 million websites that allocate a part of their ad space for Google to sell advertising and share revenue.