On Monday, officials of the European Union said rivals of Google Inc would be having four weeks to review the search giant's latest proposal on antitrust concerns. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Google's proposal would contain changes in displaying search results and the fees charged to rivals to appear in search results.

"The aim of the commitment is to show rivals have visibility on screen. It's not for us to mandate the final outcome (of what users click on)," said one EU official.

The new changes would have Google showing three sets of results coming from rival engines just below its shopping results. Rivals would still pay to appear via auction at a reserve price of EUR0.03 from the initial EUR0.10.

One of the rivals was not pleased with Google's offer. iComp representative David Wood, whose company includes Microsoft Inc, said, "What is needed is a principle-based forward-looking approach, including a clear commitment not to discriminate against its rivals."

Although Google earned USD14.89 billion in the third quarter this year, its revenues from cost-per-click advertising dropped 8% from the last quarter. Its CPC advertising revenue for the third quarter was noticeably 4% lower than the same period a year ago.