FTC Investigating Google’s Proposed Acquisition of DoubleClick

Authored by Ned Sherman on May 29, 2007 - 12:14pm.

New York, NY - The New York Times reported today that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google’s planned $3.1 billion purchase of the online advertising company DoubleClick.

According to an unidentified source, the FTC sent Google a detailed list of questions known as a “second request”, suggesting that the proposed acquisition may raise serious antitrust issues. Privacy groups, lead by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy and the United States Public Interest Research Group, are among the parties who had petitioned for the FTC review stating concerns about a deal that would give “one company access to more information about the Internet activities of consumers than any other company in the world.”

Legal experts, interviewed by the NY Times, pointed out that while privacy is not typically considered as an antitrust factor, it could be a factor in this case to the extent that privacy issues can be linked to competition. The FTC has not commented on the investigation, while Google said it was confident that the deal would withstand scrutiny.

Related Links:
Google/DoubleClick Deal Said to Bring U.S. Scrutiny (NYT)
http://www.google.com
http://www.doubleclick.com
http://www.ftc.gov