Google-DoubleClick Deal Passes FTC Hurdle. Now Comes the Hard Part: Europe
Erick Schonfeld
15 comments »
As we noted earlier, the FTC has indeed cleared Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick. Notably, the FTC required no conditions for clearing the transaction, which is a big win for Google. It won’t have to sell off any businesses or change any of its current business practices. Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond gives a rundown of the reasoning behind the FTC’s decision:
Third party ad serving markets are highly competitive. [No argument there].
Privacy not a part of the merger review. [You lucked out, boys].
Data combination wouldn’t pose problems. [That means Google won't be hobbled by any separate-but-equal clauses keeping Google and DoubleClick data apart, which would have probably squirreled the deal].
Advertisers and publishers aren’t concerned. [Well, at least not enough to complain publicly about it to the FTC].
Now that the U.S. is cleared, Google still has its toughest hurdle ahead. The European Commission won’t bow out so easily. It could very well delay a decision until April. (Those Old World regulators like to take things at an Old World pace). In the meantime, Microsoft will keep trying to steal away more business from DoubleClick, as it did yesterday with its Viacom deal. Oh, and it will be spending a lot of time lobbying its good friends at the EC as well. The longer the delay, the more Microsoft can use that time to try to catch up. But come April, DoubleGoog will start to punch back.
Darn right!
Nothing passes those greasy haired, snail-eating, foul-breathed, black-teethed, deodorant-adverse, socialist-thinking, wine-drinking, drug-taking, weird love-making, tech-hating, man-man-maitng, run down looking city dwelling, lie-telling, bad smelling, europeans.
fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
oh, by the way, I have issues with europeans.
Can somebody tell me why Europeans get to decide whether it’s okay for two American companies to merge, we don’t go telling the French which invading armies they have to surrender to.
“we don’t go telling the French which invading armies they have to surrender to.”
OUCH!
Because those American companies do business in Europe…
julien, responses like that make me think you are vying for my moniker
“Advertisers and publishers aren’t concerned.”
Read: Google has so much power in this industry, that no one dare complain.
“we don’t go telling the French which invading armies they have to surrender to.”
Thank you Toby Keith. What an American response.
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ADVERTISING.. who’s advising the FTC?.. do they know anything about the web, embedded javascript/cookies and what google is capable of doing? This sort of partnership will make google more of a ‘big brother’ than it already is.
Think about this.
1. you visit a web site that runs adsense google ads.. Google knows you were there
2. you visit a web site that is running google analytics (search for “urchin” in view source on any site you visit). google knows you were there.
3. use any OpenSocial app, google knows you were there
4. use gmail ? hmm. they’ve got you again
5. of course.. do any search on google.. and google knows you were there.
All they need to do is be aware of your IP address .. and they can track your repeat visits. much worse of course if you dare to sign into google or use their gmail or other apps that require sign in.
Currently, google has the power to mine your activity on the internet and sell this information. Each time you visit a site that has a bit of google in it, you leave a footprint.
If they have doubleclick as well.. well then.. better be careful about any site that has an advertisement anywhere. you’ll leave a footprint on practically any site you visit. Granted, doubleclick already does this, but google’s reach is much broader.
All it takes is for google to have some basic javascript on theweb site you’ll visit (something they do with adsense, ads in general, etc).. and they’ve got evidence that you visited that site.
I think someone needs to educate the FTC on the magnitude of the potential privacy implications here.. or we should also just ban using Google
other search engines are just as good these days anyway.
Why doesn’t the technical audience speak up and help the officials make an educated decision on how this merger is in the best interest of net citizens eveywhere?
@3: Lay off the French. If it wasn’t for the French supporting you during your rebellion, you’d all be speaking English.
Google can merge with Doubleclick without EU oversight if they like, they just have to stop doing business outside America. Hey, it’s not as if 80% of the world’s money is spent outside the US.
I’m instinctively against bureaucratic meddling in private transactions and would rather that neither the US nor the EU were wasting taxpayer’s money interfering with the deal, but the fact is that if you want to do businesses somewhere, you have to follow their rules.
“old world”???
How arrogant are you?