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According to the Wall Street Journal (subscribers only) eBay is talking to Microsoft and Yahoo to find a friend for a fight with Google. CNNMoney.com:
Citing people familiar with the matter,The Wall Street Journal reported that eBay began discussions with Google’s rivals last fall after the Internet search giant began encroaching on its different business divisions.
eBay, a long-time partner with Google, relied on the Mountain View, Calif.-based firm for driving traffic to its site and was one of Google’s earliest search-based advertisers, according to the paper.
But that partnership became tainted after Google launched a product similar to eBay’s online payment service PayPal and rolled out Google Base in October, a free online-classified ad service, which competes with eBay’s main business, the newspaper said.
There were no terms or deadline for a deal, but presumably an ally would replace Google as the vendor for ads on eBay itself and for eBay ads elsewhere on the Web. Joe Wilcox and Jonathan Berr have more analysis.
June 14th, 2006 at 8:07 PM
[...] However, on the flip side, Microsoft may have some advantage in just not being Google. The rumor from a week ago that eBay was soliciting help from Microsoft and Yahoo in fighting Google was subsequently denied by Steve Ballmer, but choosing an ad vendor for a content site seems like an ordinary business decision that could expect to be examined regularly. The conjecture that eBay management was incensed by Google’s recent forays into shopping might play a part in any decision, but neglects the fact that Microsoft and Yahoo have notable shopping sites of their own. [...]