Amidst reported threats of a subpoena, Google chairman Eric Schmidt has agreed to appear before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee to discuss the search giant's approach to competition.
Schmidt will appear before the Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee in September; an exact date has not yet been set.
"I'm pleased that Mr. Schmidt has agreed to testify at the Antitrust Subcommittee hearing. I look forward to discussing a number of important issues relating to Google and Internet search competition," Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, ranking member of the subcommittee, said in a statement.
"We look forward to Eric Schmidt's participation at our Antitrust Subcommittee hearing in September," said subcommittee chairman Herb Kohl of Wisconsin. "This will allow us to have a truly informational and thorough public hearing."
Last month, Lee and Kohl wrote to Schmidt and CEO Larry Page, urging one of them to testify at an upcoming hearing on search competition. Google offered up chief legal officer David Drummond, according to the letter, but Kohl and Lee said they "strongly prefer" to speak to Schmidt or Page because the hearing will "address fundamental questions of business operations rather than merely legal issues."
The two senators reportedly threatened to issue a subpoena to force an appearance. "We much prefer to work this out by agreement rather than needing to resort to more formal procedures," they said. That agreement has apparently been met.
Last month, Google confirmed that the Federal Trade Commission had "begun a review of our business," but did not provide details on the specific types of documents for which the FTC was asking.
The search giant is also facing questions over the competitiveness of its search engine across the pond. The debate dates back to February 2010, when Google announced that the European Commission had received complaints from three companies about "whether Google is doing anything to choke off competition or hurt our users and partners." Those companies were Foundem, ejustice.fr, and Ciao! from Bing. Julia Holtz, Google's competition counsel, said at the time that two of the companies—Ciao! from Bing, a Microsoft acquisition; and Foundem—had ties to rival Microsoft. Ciao was purchased by Microsoft in 2008. In February, 1plusV, a parent company of eJustice.fr, joined the complaint, and Microsoft followed suit in March.
In the U.S., Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott opened an antitrust review of Google in September. Abbott is also looking into whether Google intentionally buries search results that might promote its competitors.
Update 9/21: During the hearing, Schmidt denied that his company gives its own products search preference over that of its competitors, arguing that it faces major competition from rivals like Microsoft, Yelp, and others.