Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Schering-Plough, Merck & Co., Sanofi-Aventis, Google and eBay

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CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day
the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting
stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include:
Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:
SNY), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY).

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the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579

Here are highlights from Friday`s Analyst Blog:

EU Nod for Schering-Merck Merger

Recently, the European Union (EU) approved the proposed $41.1 billion merger
between Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) and Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK). The deal is
awaiting approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The transaction is
expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

While approving the merger, the EU clarified that the tie-up will not hinder
effective competition significantly in Europe, even though both participants in
the merger operate in the field of prescription pharmaceuticals. While checking
for overlaps in Europe, particularly in the fields of asthma and allergic
rhinitis, the European body did not find the products to be close competitors.
Consequently, the merger would not be considered to hog the market and choke
other companies.

As a reminder, Merck filed for EU approval last month after the completion of
the sale of its 50% interest in animal health company Merial Limited (Merial) to
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) for a cash consideration of $4 billion (US).

FCC Votes on Net Neutrality

The rationale behind the net neutrality rule is that it will prohibit network
operators from restricting any legal online content, devices, applications or
services that competitive service providers wishes to run through the respective
carrier`s networks. Operators have been accused of blocking or slowing traffic
according to the revenues they generate from online contents.

However, the proposed "free and open Internet" rule also offers some flexibility
to the network carriers to effectively manage their networks by preventing
network congestion and blocking spam, viruses and illegal contents. While
operators need to publicly disclose the way they manage their networks, they may
be allowed to sell premium Internet services to the customers who pay more for
their services.

The release of FCC`s proposal for net neutrality in September 2009 has become a
bone of contention between the advocates of the rule and leading U.S. network
operators. Large web content and application providers such as Google (Nasdaq:
GOOG) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) have joined a handful of public interest groups to
raise voice against the discrimination by the ISPs and cable companies.

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