DOJ blocked Google's move.
January 18th 2011 09:30
Google has significantly accelerated its travel search plans as it battles online travel rivals like Expedia, Sabre Holdings, Kayak and Farelogix. Google signaled its intention to go after rival’s when it quietly revealed it had plans to acquire ITA Software, ITA Software’s helps airline, search engine and online travel companies organized flight information including times availability and prices. The acquisition will provide Google access to data to improve its air travel and fare search results and help Google dominate the online travel search industry. But the Mountain View based company got a very serious problem, it face fierce government opposition. The US Department of justice has blocked Google’s $700 million bid for ITA Software, crushing the search giant’s dream of online travel search dominance. This is good news for the Fairsearch.org group which wants the deal nixed. The Dept. of justice had reportedly preparing a possible lawsuit against Google. The US Dept. of Justice is working very hard to conduct a thorough investigation whether Google has violated laws. Tech analysts and DOJ think that Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA Software presents a serious threat to competition and consumers. Combining Google’s online muscle with ITA Software’s technology would position Google to undermine competition across the online travel search market, its synergy- a marriage between heaven and earth. Companies like Expedia, Farelogix, Kayak, and Sabre Holdings would fear Google move. For them if Google succeed or get ITA Software Google would dominate the entire online search industry, making it a travel search powerhouse. Google could cut off access to valuable ITA data or simply jack up fees to licenses the data. And worst of all kill their core businesses.
Companies like Expedia, Kayak, Sabre Holdings and Farelogix are not going to go down without a good fight; they are not playing sitting ducks here. So they decided to form a group, a coalition named Fairsearch.org to urge the US Department of Justice to stop Google’s plan to acquire ITA Software. The group’s effort finally paid off when US Dept. of Justice steps in to block Google’s acquisition move. Google had promised to honor all existing agreements and continue to work with these companies. For Google it will increase competition but for the Fairsearch group it’s about annihilation, this is about monopoly or unfair competition. They will kill those companies or simply crush the competition.
Google has been down this regulatory before. In 2008, the US department of Justice has already blocked Google’s deal to power search for Yahoo. Not just at US soil Google is also facing strong opposition abroad. In Europe, Google face European Union is investigating whether the company unfairly positions itself on Google.com above search results of smaller rivals like eJustice. What exactly Google want? World domination? Is Google doing evil here? I see trouble here brewing.
Companies like Expedia, Kayak, Sabre Holdings and Farelogix are not going to go down without a good fight; they are not playing sitting ducks here. So they decided to form a group, a coalition named Fairsearch.org to urge the US Department of Justice to stop Google’s plan to acquire ITA Software. The group’s effort finally paid off when US Dept. of Justice steps in to block Google’s acquisition move. Google had promised to honor all existing agreements and continue to work with these companies. For Google it will increase competition but for the Fairsearch group it’s about annihilation, this is about monopoly or unfair competition. They will kill those companies or simply crush the competition.
Google has been down this regulatory before. In 2008, the US department of Justice has already blocked Google’s deal to power search for Yahoo. Not just at US soil Google is also facing strong opposition abroad. In Europe, Google face European Union is investigating whether the company unfairly positions itself on Google.com above search results of smaller rivals like eJustice. What exactly Google want? World domination? Is Google doing evil here? I see trouble here brewing.
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