Google said today it has officially completed its acquisition of AdMob.

The Google Blog offers more details about the AdMob acquisition. "It’s clear that mobile advertising is becoming a much larger part of our clients’ and partners’ strategies and with this acquisition, it’s now a central part of our own business."

"In continuing to invest in this highly competitive area, we’ll be bringing together our technology, resources and expertise in search advertising with AdMob’s innovative solutions for advertising on mobile websites and in mobile applications."
 

Original Article

The Federal Trade Commission said today it has approved Google’s  $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob after reviewing the deal and concluding it is unlikely to harm competition.

"We are extremely pleased with today’s decision from the Federal Trade Commission to clear Google’s acquisition of AdMob, said Omar Hamoui, AdMob Founder and CEO.
 
"Over the past six months we’ve received a great deal of support from across the mobile industry – and we deeply appreciate it. Our focus is now on working with the team at Google team to quickly close the deal."

The FTC said the deal raised serious antitrust issues, but its concerns were over shadowed by Apple’s plan to launch its own competing mobile ad network. The FTC went on to say a number of firms appear to be developing or acquiring smartphone platforms to better compete against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, and these firms would have a strong incentive to drive competition among mobile advertising networks.

"As a result of Apple’s entry (into the market), AdMob’s success to date on the iPhone platform is unlikely to be an accurate predictor of AdMob’s competitive significance going forward, whether AdMob is owned by Google or not," the Commission’s statement explains.