Google is freaked out. How else do you interpret the fact that Google has now publicly come out against the Microsoft bid on Yahoo? In fact, Google is now pulling a Microsoft – saying that the potential merger would form unfair competition to Google.

Privately, Google is going even further. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, rang up Yahoo CEO, Jerry Yang, and offered to help Yahoo fend off Microsoft’s offer. What, now Google is trying to form some kind of alliance with Yahoo? And on the legal front, Google is sending it’s lobbyists up to Washington in order to push for in-depth regulatory investigations in an effort to torch the deal.

Yep, Google is FREAKED OUT.

And this, from a story in the New York Times:

In the meantime, people close to Yahoo said that the company received a flurry of inquires over the weekend from potential suitors. Some people inside Yahoo have even speculated about the prospect of breaking up the company. That could mean selling or outsourcing its search-related business to Google and spinning off or selling its operations that product original content, these people said.

Dave Drummond, Senior Vice President at Google, posted on the Google blog. Some of what he said was:

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?

and in a somewhat threatening tone, he said:

This hostile bid was announced on Friday, so there is plenty of time for these questions to be thoroughly addressed. We take Internet openness, choice and innovation seriously.

Hhmmmm….

Google is indeed taking notice. Their knees are shaking and they are striking back with every weapon they have: lawyers, PR and lobbyists.