Google, Yahoo May Ditch Talks on Ad Alliance

Google and Yahoo's potential partnership is on the rocks. The two sides are still searching for a middle ground on an advertising deal, but both sides could walk away from the talks as early as next week, the Wall Street Journal reports. The main stumbling block is a consent decree, suggested by the Department of Justice, that would subject the companies’ compliance to constant oversight by a judge.

The potential partnership would allow Yahoo to display Google ads and take a portion of the profits, but critics say it would give Google too much pull in online advertising. Yahoo would likely suffer the greatest blow if talks collapse, having already walked away from a search deal with Microsoft when the Google opportunity—and its potential for hundreds of millions in revenue—emerged.
(More Google stories.)