Google-DoubleClick Deal Nears Approval
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The Federal Trade Commission is likely to approve the proposed $3.1 billion merger of Google and DoubleClick today or tomorrow, according to two sources familiar with the agency's review of the deal.
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By KELLY OLSEN  SEOUL, South Korea - Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that U.S. regulatory approval of his company's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick will not be hindered by concerns over privacy.
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In a sign that Google Inc. (GOOG)'s initial public offering is imminent, the Internet search company has asked federal regulators to give final approval to the paperwork required for its stock sale.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday approved Google's $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick, saying the much-criticized deal did not pose a threat to competition in Internet advertising.
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U.S. antitrust regulators approved Google Inc.'s $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick Inc., clearing the way for a formidable combination in the burgeoning online advertising sector.
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WASHINGTON -- The chairman of a Senate antitrust panel said Thursday that Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. "warrants close examination" by federal regulators.
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Google Inc.'s stock market debut appeared to be on track for later this week after the Internet search company asked regulators to give final approval of the paperwork required for the sale.
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Google filed with the European Union competition regulator on Friday for permission to buy rival DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, and the deal almost immediately became contentious.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, California  - Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Wednesday his company is working closely with regulators and that he was optimistic its proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick will be approved.
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By Josh Dubow  SAN FRANCISCO  --  The Federal Trade Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1 billion purchase of ad-management technology company DoubleClick Inc.
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The U.S. government still needs to block or impose conditions on Google Inc.&#39;s acquisition of online advertising server DoubleClick Inc., despite Google&#39;s call for global privacy standards, three privacy groups said Monday.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not try to block Google&#39;s acquisition of online ad-serving vendor DoubleClick, the agency said Thursday.The commission voted 4-1 to approve the deal after an eight-month investigation. &quot;After carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that&#160;Google&#39;s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick&#160;is unlikely to substantially lessen competition,&quot; the majority wrote in a statement.The commission downplayed&#160;concerns brought by some privacy groups. Privacy concerns are &quot;not unique to Google and DoubleClick,&quot; and &quot;extend to the entire online advertising marketplace,&quot; commissioners wrote.Google, the provider of the most widely used search engine, announced in April that it planned to acquire ad serving giant DoubleClick in a $3.1 billion deal.The commission examined several factors and concluded that the two companies are not direct competitors, the FTC said in a news release on Thursday. The agency found that competition in online ad-serving markets is vigorous and likely to increase.The agency will closely monitor the ad-serving space, however, commissioners wrote. &quot;The markets within the online advertising space continue to quickly evolve, and predicting their future course is not a simple task,&quot; the majority wrote. &quot;We want to be clear ... that we will closely watch these markets and, should Google engage in unlawful tying or other anticompetitive conduct, the commission intends to act quickly.&quot;Google, which faces a similar examination before the European Union, praised the FTC decision.&quot;The FTC&#39;s strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers,&quot; Eric Schmidt, Google&#39;s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. &quot;We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion, and we are confident that this deal will deliver more relevant ads for consumers, more choices for advertisers, and more opportunities for Web site publishers.&quot;Google will remain committed to user privacy, Schmidt added. &quot;For us, privacy does not begin or end with our purchase of DoubleClick,&quot; he said. &quot;We have been protecting our users&#39; privacy since our inception, and will continue to innovate in how we safeguard their information and maintain their trust.&quot;The same month that Google and DoubleClick announced the deal, three privacy groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG),&#160;filed a petition asking the FTC to block the deal&#160;unless Google made significant changes to its privacy policy. The groups argued that the combined company with have unparalleled access to Web users&#39; personal information.EPIC and the CDD didn&#39;t have an immediate reaction to the ruling.FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour voted against the deal, saying she disagreed with the majority&#39;s view on the direction of the ad-serving market.And Commissioner Jon Leibowitz, while voting with the majority, said the deal raised serious competition and privacy issues. Those issues, &quot;though in part brought to light by the deal, clearly transcend it,&quot; he wrote.In late May, Google announced that the FTC was examining the deal for potential antitrust problems. The FTC can rule that a merger raises antitrust issues, and the agency can recommend remedies. If the merging companies don&#39;t reach a settlement with the FTC, the agency can see an injunction against the merger in a U.S. court.Leibowitz, in November, said the agency was reviewing the case on antitrust, but not privacy, grounds. The privacy groups have argued, however, that the privacy issue is related to antitrust partly because of the competitive edge Google would get in targeting advertising to specific people.In December,&#160;EPIC and CDD filed a new complaint, asking FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from the case. Majoras&#39; husband works for a law firm that is advising DoubleClick, but DoubleClick and the FTC said that the Jones Day law firm hasn&#39;t represented the company before the FTC.
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InfoWorld - A European consumer group has complained that Google&#39;s proposed acquisition of online ad broker DoubleClick could hurt privacy rights due to the massive amount of data the companies would hold.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, California  - Google Inc   Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Wednesday his company is  working closely with regulators and that he was optimistic its  proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick will be  approved.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has teamed with public relations and marketing agency Burson-Marsteller on a campaign to garner industry support for asking regulators to scrutinize and potentially blockÂ the proposed merger of Google and DoubleClick. [ Plus:Â DoubleClick launches mobile ad platformÂ ] Called the Initiative for Competitive Online Marketplace, or iCOMP, the group's mission, according to its Web site, is "to highlight important principles in online services and begin important industry discussions around copyright, privacy, and competition." So far, Microsoft and Burson-Marsteller seem to be the only companies behind the initiative, though Gavin Grant, the U.K. chairman of Burson-Marsteller, said the names of companies and organizations that have signed iCOMP's online petition should be listed on the Web site by the end of Monday. Microsoft and Burson-Marsteller were planning to go public with iCOMP in a few weeks, but published reports broke news of the initiative Monday. On behalf of Microsoft, Burston-Marsteller has been sending out e-mails for several weeks to companies, organizations, consumer advocacy groups, and the like who are interested in "creating a competitive and dynamic online marketplace," Grant said Monday. Those companies have been asked to review the Web site and to sign a petition based on a set of principles inspired by concerns raised around the Google-DoubleClick deal. Grant declined to name any of the more than 100 companies or organizations that were contacted, and said he did not know if Google was among them. Google did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Grant did not explicitly come out and say that iCOMP was formed to directly block the Google-DoubleClick merger. Microsoft and Burson-Marsteller are interested in fostering a discussion to ensure that the digital marketplace remains competitive and they hope that other companies and consumer interest groups that have raised concerns about the merger will join them, he said. However, the iCOMP petition clearly points to the group's interest in taking a stand against the Google-DoubleClick deal, which opponents claim would give Google control of 80 percent of ads served on the Internet. For example, the first principle on the iCOMP petition asks signers to agree that "regulators should carefully scrutinize any transactions in the online advertising sector that would create or enhance a dominant market position, substantially reduce existing or future competition, or leave advertisers, online publishers, or consumers with fewer options." Google announced plans to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in April, a deal that immediately hadÂ competitors and industry groups crying foul over how much of the online advertising market the combined company would ownÂ and also how much access to consumer information it would have.Â U.S. government agencies scrutinizing the deal include the Federal Trade CommissionÂ and two congressional committees. Google has defended itself in blog posts saying that competitors like Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL also are buying up companies to help them boost online advertising and consumer marketing strategies. The company claims its move to buy DoubleClick has not prevented other companies from competing. Microsoft naturally doesn't see it that way. In an interview Monday company spokesman Jack Evans was more willing to voice his company's concern about the merger and to link iCOMP to Google-DoubleClick opposition, acknowledging that without that merger on the table, there would likely be no iCOMP. "Like others, we believe this proposed merger raises serious questions about the future of competition in the online advertising market as well as about consumer privacy and copyright protection," Evans said. When asked aboutÂ Microsoft's own anticompetitive practices, something for which the European Commission recently upheld a $613 million fineÂ against it, he said that Microsoft never attempted to purchase a competitor to become a leader in a market, something Microsoft and others believe Google is doing with DoubleClick. "It's one thing to earn your way into a dominant position in the marketplace, it's another thing to buy your competitors to lock up the marketplace," he said. Though there are legitimate concerns about privacy and competition to be had over Google-DoubleClick, to some, the formation of iCOMP might appear to be sour grapes on the part of Microsoft. The company was rumored to be in a bidding war with Google for DoubleClick, hoping to acquire the company to boost its own advertising revenue.Â Microsoft eventually settled for a $6 billion purchase of interactive digital services firm aQuantive, a deal that closed last month. And it wasn't so long ago that Microsoft was in the position of being scrutinized for consumer-privacy issues surrounding a Web services initiative called Hailstorm. The company in 2001 proposed Hailstorm as a central repository it would maintain for online user identity so Web users would have easy access to their personal information for online transactions. Hailstorm didn't fly with consumers or other companies because no one wanted Microsoft to be the sole owner of people's personal information.
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The European Commission's antitrust arm will use the next four weeks to pore over the specifics of the merger between Google and DoubleClick to ensure that it falls within the boundaries of the EU's strict laws regarding monopolies.
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InfoWorld - Google&#39;s proposed merger with online advertising server DoubleClick would create a giant that would control a huge portion of online advertising and hurt the Internet, opponents of the deal told U.S. lawmakers Thursday.