Google Buys an Online Ad Firm for $3.1 Billion

GOOGLE BUYS ONLINE AD FIRM FOR $3.1 BILLION
[SOURCE: New York Times 4/14, AUTHOR: Louise Story & Miguel Helft]
Google agreed to its largest acquisition, reaching a deal to purchase DoubleClick, the online advertising company, from two private equity firms for $3.1 billion in cash, almost double what it paid for YouTube last year. And perhaps just as important, the deal kept DoubleClick from the hands of Microsoft. For Google, the purchase is another step in its transformation from a search engine into an advertising powerhouse. DoubleClick, which is based in New York City, specializes in software for display advertising and has close relationships with Web publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/technology/14deal.html
(requires registration)

* Google's Rivals Fear DoubleClick Deal Concentrates Too Much Web-Ad Clout
Microsoft, AT&T, Time Warner and several other large Internet and media companies are hoping to encourage antitrust regulators to closely scrutinize Google's planned $3.1 billion purchase of Internet-ad-services firm DoubleClick. They said the deal would give Google a grip over the booming market for online advertising. The planned acquisition will be subject to a review by either the Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission, in accordance with standard procedure for acquisitions larger than a certain size. At issue is that Google already controls the lion's share of the market for Internet-search advertising and related contextual ads; the DoubleClick deal would make it a dominant player in the market for serving graphical ads on Web sites on behalf of the sites' publishers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117667837084170630.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

* Microsoft Wary of DoubleClick Buyout
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500855.html

See also --
* Google Reaches Deal With Clear Channel to Sell Radio Ads
Google will begin selling advertisements across all of the stations of Clear Channel Communications, the No. 1 radio station owner in the United States, at the end of June, the companies will announce today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16radio.html