Story Published:
Aug 28, 2006 at 10:40 AM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 7:36 AM PST
SAN FRANCISCO - In a deal between two of the Internet's
most prominent players, Google will begin selling advertising for
eBay outside the United States and help buyers quickly ring an
online merchant to do business.
The arrangement announced Monday promises to introduce
"click-to-call" Web site technology to a broader audience and
potentially speed its adoption as a means of more quickly
connecting online consumers with advertisers. It will allow
potential buyers to call eBay merchants or Google advertisers by
clicking a link on a Web page.
"We have a chance to create a whole new way for buyers and
sellers to connect online and to create what we hope will be a
significant revenue stream for both eBay and Google," eBay Inc.
Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in an interview Sunday night.
Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt said the agreement with eBay is
"likely to go on for many years," but he would not disclose the
terms of the deal or what it might mean for the Mountain View-based
search engine's bottom line. Whitman said eBay does not expect the
partnership to affect its financial performance this year or next.
Under the partnership, Google will become the exclusive provider
of text advertising on eBay outside the United States. In May, eBay
announced a deal with the No. 2 Internet search engine, Yahoo Inc.,
to serve all its domestic advertising.
Whitman said eBay decided to give Google's advertisers access to
its international auction sites after choosing Yahoo for its
domestic advertising because of the competing Internet search
engines' respective strengths and how they mesh with eBay's assets.
The deal represents the latest advertising win for Google.
Earlier this month, News Corp. agreed to make Google the exclusive
search partner for most of its sites, including the popular online
hangout MySpace.com. Late last year, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL agreed
to sell a 5 percent stake to Google in a $1 billion deal that
extends and deepens the ties between the two.
The click-to-call component of the new alliance calls for the
two Silicon Valley companies to work together on developing a
service that lets Web surfers place telephone calls through their
computers or handheld devices when they click on a link in an
Internet ad.
Its advocates, including some merchants who have tried it, say
customers who call are ready to buy and aren't just browsing the
Internet; thus, search engines can charge more - $2 to $10 or even
more per call, compared with less than $1 per click with
traditional search ads.
Google already has been testing a program in which users click
on a phone icon and type their number into a box. Google then dials
the user, who hears ringing until the merchant answers.
Schmidt and Whitman said they would begin testing some of their
joint services early next year.
Last year, eBay bought the Internet phone service Skype. Google
has its own messaging and Internet-based telephone service, Google
Talk. Both services will be used in the partnership, though details
were not disclosed. EBay does plan to rely on Google's
international presence to build a worldwide market for Skype.
Promoting "click-to-call" advertising was also part of the
deal eBay announced with Yahoo in May. Yahoo also has been testing
the concept.
San Jose-based Ebay also owns PayPal, an online payment service,
and when the company joined advertising forces with Yahoo, PayPal
became the preferred payment provider for purchases made on Yahoo.
Although eBay already was one of Google's biggest advertisers,
the search engine launched a rival online payment service to PayPal
in June. Schmidt said the overlapping services and partnerships are
all part of industry's effort to respond to tech-saavy shoppers who
want service in a hurry.
"This is all about speed," he said. "The moment somebody
wants to buy something, we want that advertiser to be able to sell
it, hawk it or do whatever they want with it."
Shares of Google rose $5.69, or 1.5 percent, to $378.95 in
afternoon trading Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, where eBay
shares rose 48 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $25.78.