Google the Target.(International Edition)(Google Inc.'s market)

Byline: Daniel Lyons

We all know how an auction works. The auctioneer sits up front and keeps calling for higher bids until there's one bidder left--and that person wins. Now imagine an auction where the auctioneer won't let you see the other bidders, but assures you they are there, on the other side of a curtain. The auctioneer won't tell you who the other bidders are; you're only told a range of prices that others have bid. And simply paying the most doesn't guarantee you'll win, because the auctioneer has created a system that lets some bidders win even when they pay less. You may not like this system, but this auctioneer controls the bulk of the market.

Imagine that, and you have imagined Google. Most people think of Google as a free search engine--and it is that. But the real genius of Google was that it figured out that advertisers would pay to have their messages pop up when someone types in a keyword. Those search ads now represent the biggest chunk of all Internet advertising. Google gets the lion's share, which has allowed it to amass such power that it may end up the target of a U.S. antitrust investigation.

The Feds are already examining possible antitrust issues in a deal Google has reached with authors to sell millions of books online. And they are investigating issues connected to the fact that Google and Apple share two board members, one of whom is Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Last year, when Google tried to make a search pact with Yahoo, federal regulators came close to bringing antitrust charges until Google walked away from the deal. Microsoft, a bitter rival, is pushing regulators to rein in Google--and it may or ...