Google may never have expected the move to pass antitrust review. Even as a feint, this proposal sufficed to drive MS away from Yahoo, which Yahoo's management at the time also wanted.
Yeah, I don't know. Probably. Just seems risky to even put the notion in the DoJ's collective head that you need watching for monopoly concerns. Maybe less risky than having a combined Microhoo competitor, idk. If I'm Yahoo and I think that one through, it would make me want to sell more, but then I guess I would have said "sold" the minute the original offer came in.
