Google fired back Sunday at Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid to acquire Yahoo, accusing Microsoft of seeking to extend its computer software monopoly deeper into the Internet realm.
David Drummond, a Google senior vice president and its chief legal officer, said in a blog post that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo
could undermine the open competition that has fueled more than a decade of Web innovation.
"Between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet," Drummond wrote in a blog post to be published at http://googleblog.blogspot.com.
"Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and Web-based services?" he asked rhetorically, noting that Microsoft has a history ofusing its monopoly positions to ominate newer, adjacent markets.
The Google executive called on policymakers around the world to challenge the merger. In making its case for the deal on Friday, Microsoft executives said Google -- not Microsoft -- was the one company antitrust regulators were likely to bar from buying Yahoo based on Google's dominance in Web search.