Canada’s
Competition Bureau is concerned that a new deal between Google Inc. and
Yahoo Inc. will result in rising costs for Canadian companies looking
to buy ads online.
The
world’s two biggest search engines plan to partner, in a deal which
would see ads from Google appear on Yahoo’s search results pages. The
Competition Bureau announced it is launching an investigation into the
matter.
Spokespeople
for the Competition Bureau said that combining Yahoo with market leader
Google could create a near monopoly on Canada’s search market. Industry
observers have speculated that an agreement would leave Canada without
competition in online search and allow Google to charge exorbitant
prices for its ad space.
Google and Yahoo plan to finalize the partnership later this year.