$GOOG fathered advertising duopoly. Gouge customers the new normal $MSFT $YHOO $AOL #onlineads

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Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO) and AOL (NYSE:AOL) have all banded together to sell ads on each others sites to compete against, wait for it, Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) While there may be some selling efficiencies we now have officially created a duopoly.

Duopolies are very price inefficient. A lot of me too-ism develops. Cost conscious advertisers will not see a notable difference in offerings. Everyone settles in for a nice game of gouge the customer. Look for more but useless government inquiries into online advertising costs.

Advertisers will need to revolt. Major advertisers will need to form venture capital pools to buy into the next Facebook, Twitter or whatever. That way they can control their spends and develop strategic positions.

Disclosure: George Gutowski writes from a caveat emptor perspective. It’s all about the Black Swans. I hold no positions in stocks mentioned in this post. I have no plans to initiate new positions within the next 72 hours.

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