Yahoo informs EC of its Google search ad deal

today, the EC could be interested because there could be a spillover effect from the deal, where parties are working together in Area A, and are still competing in Area B, and there is the potential for the work in Area A to improperly affect competition in Area B, Cuomo said.

"I would expect that there's probably some anticipation by the European community antitrust authorities, who have been very interested in Microsoft, that this proposed transaction may not be the final transaction that reflects where Yahoo ends up at the end of the day," said C. Evan Stewart, an antitrust attorney at Washington-based Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. "Wherever Yahoo ends up, there's going to be scrutiny by antitrust regulators, and I guess Yahoo just thinks they should have the [EC] involved sooner rather than later."