Some of this was hinted after it became clear Google would be buying YouTube, and News Corp was passed over in the YouTube “auction” process. Now MySpace’s interest in striking a separate deal with eBay is holding up the finalization of its $900 million online search advertising pact with Google, reports WSJ.
The MySpace-Google deal was done six months ago, but the final papers are being done now. The delay doesn’t threaten the $900 million…MySpace installed the Google links on its site in December and began receiving payments from Google in January. But now MySpace wants to ensure that the terms originally agreed—as outlined in a hastily drafted deal letter of intent in August—don’t limit its ability to work with third parties such as eBay, according to the story. MySpace has been talking to eBay for several months about ways they could partner on what MySpace calls “peer commerce”, meaning users selling to each other using eBay’s technology and its PayPal system.
But Google isn’t likely to favor any deal that promotes eBay services that compete with its own, with Google Checkout competing against Paypal, among other services.
The differences over eBay aren’t likely to derail the ad pact between Google and MySpace, the story says…also, News Corp. likely has more at stake with Google than with any potential eBay deal.
Related: Fox Interactive’s Call For A Search & Contextual Ad Vendor Answered: Google; $900 Million Guarantee