Google, ITA decision could come Friday: sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department will likely announce a deal on Friday with Google that would allow it to buy an airline ticketing software company while requiring that ITA Software's products remain available to Google's rivals, a source close to the deal said Friday.

A second source said that a deal was "looking likely," and that an announcement could come possibly today.

Google, the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, said in July that it would buy ITA Software for $700 million in cash, an announcement that sparked worries in the tech world that travel websites such as Kayak and TripAdvisor could be deprived of ITA's software.

One condition would touch on licensing of ITA products to Google rivals, said a third source, who spoke privately to protect relationships with the agency.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Dave Zimmerman)