Schmidt did not specify which deal in particular he was referring to, but noted that Google's search could be improved with access to Facebook's data about Web surfers' friends and acquaintances.
"We tried very hard to partner with Facebook," Schmidt said. "They were unwilling to do the deal," he added, noting that Facebook had traditionally partnered with Microsoft.
Schmidt, who was speaking at the D9 conference organized by the blog AllThingsD, also noted that Google had also recently renewed a partnership with Apple in which Google provides map technology featured in the iPhone.
A former Apple board member, Schmidt said their relationship had gotten "rough" as Google began to develop its Android smartphone operating system, although they remained good partners in certain businesses.
Schmidt, who ended his 10-year run as Google CEO in April and handed the reins to 38-year-old Google co-founder Larry Page, is among the more than a dozen tech industry executives slated to speak at the conference, taking place this week at an upscale resort in Southern California.
Among the other scheduled speakers are the chief executives of the Walt Disney Co, Hewlett-Packard, Twitter, Zynga, Groupon and Alibaba.
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