US government approves Google takeover with some changes
The US Justice Department approved Google’s takeover of ITA but there were some strings attached.They were clearly designed to prevent the search giant from taking advantage of its market position in taking over the search and recommendation services of ITA.
The Department of Justice announced that as part of their approval, Google will be required to develop and license travel software with rival flight search sites for five years. There were also other stipulations such as setting up internal firewall procedures. The Justice Department will monitor compliance, it said.
It took nine months for the government to approve the acquisition after rival travel search firms that included Kayak and Expedia lobbied in opposition of the US$700 million takeover. This coalition opposing the move said in a statement that the Justice Department’s settlement would ensure "that consumers will continue to benefit from vibrant competition and innovation in travel search."
Jeff Huber, Google’s senior vice president of commerce, said in an official blog post that the company would be able to combine its search technology with ITA’s tools to develop new flight search options.
"How cool would it be if you could type ‘flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May’ into Google and get not just a set of links but also flight times, fares and a link to sites where you can actually buy tickets quickly and easily?" he wrote.
The Justice Department said that the proposed settlement will protect competition for airfare comparison and booking websites. It also claimed the compromise will ensure those websites using ITA’s software will be able to power their websites to compete against any airfare website Google may introduce.
The department said that the acquisition order had been modified to ensure completion would continue in flight searches, which will also help ensure consumers have choices in websites.
By David Wilkening
David
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