WebProNews

Anonymous sources say approval is near

Rumors from people close to the discussion about the European Union approving Google's DoubleClick acquisition say the deal will be approved without conditions.

Although it will have taken longer than Google anticipated, the regulatory stamp of approval from European regulators could come as soon as next week.

Google's $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick raised privacy and competition concerns in the United States and Europe. The Federal Trade Commission accepted Google's long-standing contention the deal would be a merger of complementary businesses: paid search advertising and display advertising.

A Bloomberg report said Microsoft's many complaints about the deal will not sway investigators. Microsoft believes too much market power will be concentrated in one place in the online advertising market should the deal receive approval.

The concentration of overall market power in online ads may be separated between search and display businesses in the case of Google picking up DoubleClick. Functionally, the purchase makes Google a one-stop shop for advertisers who want to reach the broadest audience they can.

To Microsoft's chagrin, the delays in bringing its Yahoo takeover efforts to fruition puts it farther behind the combined Google/DoubleClick. Microsoft probably has to wait until summer to make its Yahoo machinations work, but if advertisers decide spending money with Google for search and display makes more sense, it could be a long time before picking up Yahoo yields a solid return on investment from an ad sale perspective.