OFT: consumers benefit from Google

Posted on 25 Nov 2009 at 10:13

The Office of Fair Trading has told MPs that it has no plans to tackle Google’s dominance of the web search market.

Google accounts for almost 90% of all UK searches [see graph], but OFT chief executive John Fingleton sees no evidence that consumers are suffering as a result.

“Where a company has achieved that position by superior innovation, foresight and better targeting of customers, we’re very wary of intervening,” Fingleton told the Commons’ culture, media and sport select committee.

“We see a lot of customers benefit from what’s happening in this marketplace, from very high innovation; it’s good for the British economy. We don’t want to send a negative signal about that.”

The OFT’s hands-off attitude comes as publishers—led by News Corp and its owner Rupert Murdoch—are becoming increasingly disgruntled with Google, which is reaping large profits from selling advertising alongside links to publishers’ content. It looks increasingly likely that Murdoch may soon prevent Google from accessing News Corp websites, though a rumoured exclusive deal with Microsoft’s rival Bing search engine appears to have been just talk, at least for now.

Author: Simon Aughton

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