I discussed the Justice depart vs. Google as a battle in this post.

And, Google withdraws from its Yahoo offer to avoid the battle.

Google Withdraws From Yahoo Deal

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Google Inc. backed out its advertising agreement with Yahoo Inc. Wednesday, as the Department of Justice notified the search giant that it planned to file a lawsuit to block the deal.

"Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners. That wouldn't have been in the long term interests of Google or our users, so we have decided to end the agreement," Google's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote on the company's blog.

In a statement, Yahoo said it "continues to believe in the benefits of the agreement and is disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw from the agreement rather than defend it in court."

The Justice Department issued a statement, saying it had determined that the deal would have made the companies "collaborators rather than competitors for a significant portion of their search advertising businesses, materially reducing important competitive rivalry between the two companies."