Google execs to be subpoenaed: WSJ

The Federal Trade Commission is set to subpoena Google to ensure either Eric Schmidt or Larry Page, the company's two top executives, appears before a commission investigating whether the company has abused its position in the search marketing space, according to The Wall Street Journal.

US Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah.), the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate's antitrust committee, respectively, first contacted Google June 10 as part of an inquiry into the search giant's search results ranking system, reported Bloomberg.

Complaints from several European countries prompted the European Commission to investigate whether Google was ranking its own services more favorably than those of other businesses in its organic results, the Journal said.

Google volunteered to send its chief legal officer, David Drummond, to the proceedings in lieu of either of the two executives. The committee responded that Schmidt and Page could better speak to the business practices the company has undertaken rather than solely about legal matters, Bloomberg reported.

Page became Google's CEO in April, when Schmidt stepped out of the role to become executive chairman.