The DOJ Looks Into Whether Google Is a Monopoly

CNN Money:

As James Stewart wrote in The Wall Street Journal this week: “Google’s continued gains in market share bear out my contention that Google is that rare breed: the natural monopoly. By natural, I also mean lawful, since the monopoly derives from Google’s skill and qualities inherent in the business, not from anticompetitive behavior.”

Adds Stewart: “I sometimes get the sense that antitrust regulators, in their single-minded zeal to promote competition, ignore the fact that monopolies, in and of themselves, aren’t illegal, or even necessarily bad.”

I don’t think there’s any question that Google has a monopoly on search. But I don’t see how they’ve abused their success in anti-competitive ways. And they certainly don’t have a monopoly on advertising, which is what they’re actually selling.

★ Saturday, 9 May 2009