Justice Department approves Google's ITA deal

The Justice Department said on Friday it has approved Google's $700 million acquisition of ITA, an online travel company specializing in airline ticketing software, with several conditions.

In a settlement designed to address competitive concerns, Justice required Google to develop and license travel software to other companies under "commercially reasonable terms." Google also would be barred from using "competitively sensitive information and data gathered from ITA's customers," the DoJ said.

In addition, Google cannot enter into agreements with airlines that would restrict their ability to share booking information with Google's rivals.

Bloomberg news reported that the agreement allows the Justice Department to consider a larger antitrust investigation of Google.