It’s Official: Google Acquires DoubleClick For 3.1 Billion

Google announced today that the company has finally closed the deal to acquire DoubleClick, which specializes in online ad serving and management.

The Federal Trade Commission okayed the agreement back in December 2007, but it took substantially longer for EU antitrust regulators to give the thumbs up.

“The Commission’s in-depth market investigation found that Google and DoubleClick were not exerting major competitive constraints on each other’s activities and could, therefore, not be considered as competitors at the moment,” the group concluded.

Competitors Microsoft and Yahoo had sought to block the acquisition, expressing concerns that it would give Google too much of a monopoly on the online advertising market.

And with great power comes great responsibility.

“Today’s acquisition of DoubleClick will provide Google with unrivalled access to consumer data and a foothold in the display media space,” said Wayne Arnold of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).