MSFT Will Challenge Google-Yahoo Japan Deal

In a move that should surprise no one, Microsoft says it will try to block the recently announced Google-Yahoo Japan partnership.

In our story from Tuesday, a Microsoft senior VP spoke out strongly against the partnership. Now, Silican Alley Insider received confirmation last night that the company will take steps to challenge it formally.

“We plan to present evidence to the Japanese FTC explaining why we believe that this deal is substantially more harmful to competition than Google’s deal with Yahoo in 2008 that the DOJ found to be illegal,” says a Microsoft rep.

Also reported in our story earlier this week is a Citi analyst saying that Google and Yahoo Japan combine for 95% of the search market share in Japan. Microsoft itself said this week that the two combine for 98% of the paid search market there.