EU approves Google's DoubleClick bid

EU approves Google's DoubleClick bid
European Union regulators say Internet portal giant's $3.1 billion bid for online ad tracker won't hurt competition.

Last Updated: March 11, 2008: 10:07 AM EDT

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- European Union regulators on Tuesday cleared Google Inc.'s $3.1 billion (€2.13 billion) bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick, saying it won't curb competition for online ads.
The approval clears the last major hurdle for a deal the U.S. Department of Justice approved in December, overruling complaints from rivals Yahoo Inc. (YHOO, Fortune 500) and Microsoft Corp., (MSFT, Fortune 500) and from advertisers and privacy advocates claiming the purchase gave Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) too much control over the online ad market.
But the European Commission dismissed the objections, saying it found no proof that Google and DoubleClick would be able to marginalize competitors because Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL provided "credible" alternatives for placing ads on Web sites.
Google and DoubleClick are not currently rivals, it said, and Google's purchase of even a potential competitor would not have an adverse impact on competition in the online ad market.
Regulators said their decision was based exclusively on the economic aspects of the deal and it had no bearing on the companies' obligations under EU rules on personal privacy protection or how personal data is processed.
European data privacy regulators are currently examining how far search engines' data protection policies comply with existing EU law and are due to publish a report in April. They said last month that rules would also apply to search engines headquartered outside Europe.
New York-based DoubleClick helps its customers place and track online advertising, including search ads, which Google -- more than its nearest search competitors Yahoo and Microsoft -- has turned into a lucrative business. It places ads on Web pages that targeted consumers are likely to use, generating money for smaller publishers and lesser-visited pages.
First Published: March 11, 2008: 9:46 AM EDT

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/11/technology/bc.apfn.eu.fin.eu.google.doubleclick.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008031110