“Google + ITA: A threat to competition and consumers”

A group of online travel companies including Expedia, TripAdvisor, Travelocity, Kayak.com, Hotwire.com, Sabre, SideStep and Farelogix, have got together to oppose Google Inc.'s proposed $700 million purchase of ITA Software.

Published: 26 Oct 2010

A group of online travel companies including Expedia, TripAdvisor, Travelocity, Kayak.com, Hotwire.com, Sabre, SideStep and Farelogix, have got together to oppose Google Inc.'s proposed $700 million purchase of ITA Software.

A new coalition called FairSearch.org has been formed. It is being described as “a group of businesses united in support of a healthy Internet future, where greater consumer choice and economic growth are driven by competition, transparency and innovation in online search.”

The group says it stands for two vital principles in online search:

· Transparency: Consumers – not search engines – should choose winners in the marketplace. Consumers benefit from more choices in the search marketplace competing to win users, innovating to improve products and displaying results transparently. When search providers engage in search discrimination – manipulating search results to promote a favored product and punish competitors – consumers pay the price.

· Innovation: Consumers benefit when competition in the marketplace forces companies to continue to innovate and develop the best solutions for online search. No one company should be allowed to use its dominance to foreclose competitors from the search marketplace – particularly in high-traffic specialty segments, like travel, jobs and real estate.

According to Fairsearch.org, Google’s proposal to buy ITA Software, the leading source of critical air fare software used by search engines and travel sites alike, threatens the competitive online travel search market, and could limit the competition and innovation that benefits consumers.

“If the transaction is approved, consumers should expect to face higher prices and less choice when searching for travel online.”

“Google, which has called itself the “kingmaker” of the Internet, controls 72% of all online searches and more than 77% of search advertising in the U.S. The Department of Justice has stated that Google is a “dominant” force in the Internet search ecosystem.”

“This anticompetitive deal represents a broader pattern in Google’s acquisition strategy – a strategy that threatens online competition, innovation and economic growth.”

 
 
 

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