The BP oil spill is lining the pockets of Google, Bing and Yahoo as the British company fights to control information about the disaster. BP seems at the top of the page for numerous search engine queries related to the oil spill. Search engine companies are collecting oil wealth when BP’s stock plunge has investors questioning the future of a company flush with cash. BP’s response to the disaster is frustrating lawmakers, who publicly chastise the company for prioritizing dividends over damage claims. Meanwhile, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 added up to as much as 125 million gallons and counting on day 52 of the disaster.
Will money purchase love for BP?
BP is aggressively going after web users looking for a BP oil spill update. USA Today reports that Google, Bing and Yahoo are accepting money from BP to help the business spin and withhold info about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with top rankings for searches such as the words “BP news,” oil spill” and “oil spill claims”. BP’s website, the destination for the sponsored links, presents the story BP would rather have told about the disaster with biased updates, videos and photos. What’s missing from the BP site is the oil spill live feed that shows a raging gusher of crude overwhelming the oil spill cap.
Gusher undermines BP stock price
Search engine manipulation about the oil spill has yet to affect the free-fall of BP’s stock price. In London trading, U.S. political pressure on BP for its failure to contain the oil spill disaster drove BP stock to its lowest price in seven years. U.S. lawmakers demanding that BP withhold dividends until the oil spill is cleaned up are infuriating investors in Britain, where BP stock is widely held by pension funds. The Associated Press quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying that BP, responsible under the law for the spill’s economic damage, should withhold dividends until the crisis is resolved.
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