Department of Justice OKs Google’s Acquisition of Admeld

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division closed its investigation into the proposed acquisition of Admeld, an online display advertising service provider, by Google.

After a thorough review of the evidence, the division concluded that the transaction is not likely to substantially lessen competition in the sale of display advertising. Although the Antitrust Division concluded that this particular transaction was unlikely to cause consumer harm, the division will continue to be vigilant in the enforcement of the antitrust laws to protect competition in display and other forms of online advertising. The division’s investigation focused on the potential effect of the proposed transaction on competition in the display advertising industry. Both Google and Admeld provide services and technology to web publishers that facilitate the sale of those publishers’ display advertising space. Google is a diversified software company whose offerings for publishers include an advertising exchange, an advertising network and an ad server. Admeld operates a supply-side platform (SSP) that helps publishers optimize the yield from their display advertising inventory. The investigation determined that web publishers often rely on multiple display advertising platforms and can move business among them in response to changes in price or the quality of ad placements. This use of multiple display advertising platforms, commonly called “multi-homing,” lessens the risk that the market will tip to a single dominant platform. In addition, there have been recent SSP and advertising exchange entrants in the display advertising industry. These were significant considerations in the division’s decision to close the investigation.