SAN FRANCISCO — Google and Yahoo have reportedly submitted a list of concessions that would deflate their proposed Internet advertising partnership to appease antitrust regulators threatening to block the alliance.
The companies offered their revisions to the U.S. Justice Department during the weekend, according to a story posted Monday on The Wall Street Journal’s website.
Citing people familiar with the matter, The Journal said Google and Yahoo are now willing to limit the amount of revenue generated from the partnership and shorten the deal’s duration. Google’s advertising customers would also be given the option to not have their commercials appear on Yahoo’s website.
Under the new plan, Yahoo would be limited to getting no more than 25 percent of its search-advertising revenue from Google, and their partnership would expire after two years. The original contract spanned 10 years and didn’t have any restrictions on how frequently Yahoo could draw upon Google’s technology for displaying ads alongside its search results.
Yahoo had estimated that Google’s system would enable it to boost its revenue by $800 million annually, but the restrictions would cut that amount in half.
Representatives from Google and Yahoo declined to comment but confirmed that the companies remain in talks with the Justice Department in hopes of winning clearance to join forces.
Antitrust regulators have been looking hard at the deal because the two companies combined control more than 80 percent of the U.S. search- advertising market.
