Google winning 98% ad spots it auctions off, after order to treat others equally

Re:Google winning 98% ad spots it auctions off, after order ... by comex on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @11:51PM (#16271423)

But let’s say the spots are actually only worth $10, in terms of the ability to generate revenue. If you sell them to someone else for $20, you win because you get more money than the slots were worth. If you sell them to yourself for $20, you don’t lose any money and you can still make $10 (which is more than the slots originally cost you).

However, Google claims it is not doing this:

> As part of the change, Google said it would operate its shopping-ad service as if it were a profitable, standalone business to ensure doesn’t overbid for ads.

Still, “profitable” could be by the slimmest of margins, and Google would still have a strong incentive to keep the “standalone” business going (that is, the profit to their other business), whereas an independent company wouldn’t.

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Re:Google winning 98% ad spots it auctions off, after order ... by daveFNbuck on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:02AM (#16272100)

If you sell them to yourself for $20, you have your original $100, plus the $10 * 5 dollars in ads, for a total of $150. Because $150 is less than $200, this means that diverting the ads to yourself loses you money.

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