Google's Schmidt to appear before US senate

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has ceded to pressure to appear before a US senate hearing into the company's growing internet dominance and business practices.
 
Schmidt will testify at a senate subcommittee antitrust hearing some time in or around September, Wall Street Journal reported.
 
While Google has been reluctant to have senior executives testify to the panel, lawmakers had last month threatened to subpoena one to appear.
 
The hearing comes as Google faces a number of US and global investigations into whether it is abusing its substantial market power with its business practices.
 
The FTC late last month was reported to have launched a broad investigation into Google's behavior in the search ad market. While previous probes have concentrated on mergers and acquisitions, the regulator now plans to explore the heart of Google's business activities.
 
This, as well as an ongoing antitrust probe by the European Commission and an antistrust review from the US department of justice into Google's planned acquisition of AdMeld, has led to speculations the search giant could have a break-up forced upon it.
 
But the company could escape any intervening action because - at least in the US - it is not illegal to have a monopoly, only to ensure one by acting anti-competitively.