Google Compare to Shut Down in March: Report

Google is shuttering Google Compare, its US comparison-shopping site for auto insurance, credit cards and mortgages after one year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The quick reversal is a setback to the Alphabet unit's efforts to use its enormous reach to provide consumers with niche shopping services and financial-services tools, the Journal said.

The company said in an email to its partners on Monday that Google Compare's US and UK services would start winding down this month and terminate on March 23, according to the Journal.

Google said the service didn't meet its expectations and that the company will now focus on AdWords and future innovations, the paper reported citing the email.

Google could not immediately be reached for comment outside US business hours.

A Berlin court rejected on Friday a legal complaint filed by German publishers which said Google was abusing its market power by refusing to pay them for displaying newspaper articles online.

Germany's biggest newspaper publisher, Axel Springer, and 40 other publishers had accused Alphabet Inc's Google of unfair treatment.

The conflict centred on a long-standing row over payments for newspaper content, which Google makes freely available via its online platforms Google News, YouTube and other services.

While some in the media industry accuse Google of making money at its expense, the Silicon Valley company says publishers profit from advertising revenue generated through its site.

The unfair treatment allegation centred on what German publishers said were threats by Google to punish those media outlets which demanded payment by displaying abbreviated versions of their stories.

© Thomson Reuters 2016