2008 round-up: Online
Big online stories of 2008 included the uncertain future of Project Kangaroo, the end of JICIMS, and the three-way wrestling match between Microsoft, Google and Yahoo!.
Microsoft launched a $44.6 billion takeover bid to buy Yahoo! at the start of the year, saying that it was confident of delivering up to $1 billion in cost savings under the terms of the proposed deal (see Microsoft Offers To Buy Yahoo! For $44.6bn).
Google then joined the party, saying that the bid raised “troubling questions” about the underlying principles of the internet (see Google Raises Competition Questions Over Microsoft/Yahoo! Deal).
Writing on the official Google blog, David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, said: “Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the internet.”
Google then proposed a partnership with Yahoo! in an effort to escape Microsoft’s takeover bid (see Google Goes For Yahoo! Partnership). After a couple of months of wrangling over price, Microsoft’s takeover was no more as it refused to match the $37 per share price Yahoo!’s founders were asking for (see Microsoft Drops Yahoo! Bid)
Just weeks later, however, Microsoft re-entered talks with Yahoo! about a limited merger as billionaire investor Carl Icahn – whose fund spent more than $1 billion on a 4% stake in Yahoo! – put pressure on the Yahoo! board to complete a sale (see Microsoft Re-Opens Negotiations With Yahoo!).
The twists and turns did not stop there though, with Yahoo! ending all merger talks with Microsoft in June and announcing a search advertising deal with Google (see Yahoo! Signs Search Ad Deal With Google).
The following months saw the pair attempt to win regulatory approval for the proposed deal, which would have seen Google ads displayed in Yahoo! searches (see Google and Yahoo! make last attempt to win ad deal approval). Google pulled the plug on it in November though, in order to avoid a “protracted legal battle” with regulators (see Google terminates Yahoo! ad deal).
David Drummond, Google senior vice president, said: “After four months of review, including discussions of various possible changes to the agreement, it’s clear that government regulators and some advertisers continue to have concerns about the agreement.
“Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners. That wouldn’t have been in the long-term interests of Google or our users, so we have decided to end the agreement.”
Later in November Jerry Yang, Yahoo! chief executive, announced that he would be quitting the firm when a successor was found (see Yahoo! boss Jerry Yang steps down).
Google was not just trying to seal the deal with Yahoo! in 2008 – it also finally gained approval for its takeover of online advertising network DoubleClick (see Google Gets EU Approval For DoubleClick Takeover)and allowed keyword bidding on all terms typed into its search engine (see Google To Allow Keyword Bidding On All Search Terms), although this drew criticism from the IPA (see IPA Slams Google’s Key Word Search Plans).
In October, an invitation-only IPA event assessing the future of the Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems (JICIMS) concluded that a unified currency would help accelerate advertiser usage and grow the medium. The JICIMS board said that this consensus gave it a clear mandate to report back to its stakeholders by the end of 2008 on “solutions acceptable to the business strategy of media owners and agencies” (see JICIMS Summit Gives Green Light To Pursue Online Research Currency).
The start of December, however, saw the ISBA and the IPA withdraw support from JICIMS (see JICIMS to restructure after ISBA and IPA withdraw support), leaving the IAB and the AOP to lead the initiative. Just a couple of days later, JICIMS revealed that it was restructuring as a new body called the UK Online Measurement company (UKOM) (see JICIMS forms new body for online measurement).
Kangaroo, the joint broadband TV venture from BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, was also hogging the headlines in 2008. In August the Competition Commission was forced to extend the deadline for its investigation into the service until January 2009, because the partners failed to submit information on time. The broadcasters missed a six-day deadline given to them to provide details on the scope of the proposed service (see Investigation Into Project Kangaroo Pushed Back To 2009).
More bad news followed in December, when the Competition Commission’s provisionally found that the service would “restrict competition” in the UK (see
Competition Commission: Kangaroo “will restrict competition” www.mediatelgroup.co.uk