Google Takes Friendly Fire

It's not just Google's(GOOG Quote) rivals that would like to reign in the search giant -- its own partners are starting to test the limits of cooperation.

Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast(CMCSA Quote) is negotiating to use Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) search service on its broadband portal, citing people familiar with the matter.

With 15 million unique visitors a month, Comcast is one of the biggest outside sources of searches for Google. And although Comcast expects its cut from the partnership to amount to about $70 million this year, the cable giant believes it should get at least $100 million, according to the article.

The leak to the press -- and demand for more compensation -- have all the makings of a power play by Comcast. "Comcast is using The Wall St. Journal as a broadcast medium to potential partners that its deal with Google is up soon, and it's looking for someone to buy the business," Searchblog author John Battelle wrote in a Monday post on his site. "Price tag? $100 million."

Comcast's clamoring for an additional $30 million may not seem like a big deal. After all, Google announced revenue of $2.23 billion in its fourth quarter alone -- shelling out $30 million to keep an important partner like Comcast would hardly dent the search giant's balance sheet.

Still, the unseemly public spat demonstrates that Google's position may be trickier than that.

Caving to Comcast's demand would embolden its many other business partners, who could then push for more cash -- or threaten to take their business elsewhere. In fact, IAC/InterActiveCorp's(IACI Quote) Ask.com -- the high-profile search engine that uses Google's ad network to make money off its searches -- seems to be headed in precisely that direction.