TOKYO — Japan's fair trade watchdog said Wednesday it saw no monopoly problem with a search alliance between top Internet portal Yahoo! Japan and Google, Kyodo News reported.
The tie-up "will not immediately run counter to the anti-monopoly law," Takahide Matsuyama, secretary-general of Japan Fair Trade Commission, told local reporters, according to Kyodo.
On Tuesday, Yahoo! Japan announced the deal, which will would see both giants dominate the Japanese market in a possible blow to Microsoft.
Under the deal, Yahoo! Japan will switch to Google's search engine this year from the Yahoo! Inc. technology it currently uses and deploy Google's online advertising and distribution system, while maintaining its current user interface.
In return, Yahoo! Japan will provide Google with data on online shopping or auction trends, excluding personal information.
In the United States, Microsoft quickly denounced the alliance, saying it would give Google near-total control over the third-largest market for search queries in the world.
Yahoo! Japan said it currently has about a 57 percent share of the search market in the country and Google has about 37 percent. Microsoft has almost a three percent share.
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