Google Quickly Closes DoubleClick Deal

March 12th, 2008

After nearly a year of discussions and regulatory delays, online search giant Google closed its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc., one of the leading Internet advertising service providers. Google reportedly closed the deal and took control of DoubleClick within hours of receiving approval from the European Commission.The EC had begun a review of the proposed DoubleClick acquisition six months ago and finally determined that the purchase would not be prohibitive to competition in the world of online advertising, despite protests from competitors. In justifying its decision, the EC focused on the fact that Google offers free search capabilities and sells advertising through its AdSense network, whereas DoubleClick sells ad serving, management and reporting technology to Web-site publishers and to advertisers and agencies.

“The commission’s in-depth market investigation found that Google and DoubleClick were not exerting major competitive constraints on each other’s activities and could, therefore, not be considered as competitors at the moment,” the EC said. “Even if DoubleClick could become an effective competitor in online intermediation services, it is likely that other competitors would continue to exert sufficient competitive pressure after the merger.”

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