Google’s $3.1 billion bid for Internet advertiser DoubleClick gained federal approval despite objections that it might pose a threat to competition and tread on consumer privacy.
The Federal Trade Commission voted 4-1, ending its eight-month investigation. “After carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is unlikely to substantially lessen competition,” the commission’s majority wrote.
The merger, which combines Google’s dominance in pay-per-click Internet advertising with DoubleClick’s expertise in display ads, still faces scrutiny from European antitrust officials, who opened a four-month review last month.
Additionally, the FTC proposed a set of principles for self-regulation in behavioral marketing. Such advertising involves tracking a consumer’s activities online, including Web searches and sites visited, to target advertisements to individual interests.
Google says it hopes the European Commission reaches the same conclusion as the FTC. “This acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers,” CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement.
The European Commission’s review deadline is April 2.
Critics of the merger, announced in April, argue it gives Google a stranglehold on the $40 billion Internet-advertising market and threatens the privacy of users.
“The FTC is basically solidifying Google’s position as the dominant power in the digital marketing space and as an aggregator of targeting data of Americans,” says Joseph Turow, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication.
The Center for Digital Democracy unsuccessfully asked FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from considering the deal because her husband, John Majoras, works for the Jones Day law firm representing DoubleClick before European regulators. The privacy group has vowed legal action.
John Majoras has said his firm did not represent DoubleClick before the FTC.
The dissenting FTC vote came from Pamela Jones Harbour, a political independent who wrote the acquisition could undercut competition and compromise consumer privacy.
The merger is the latest machination in a rapidly consolidating online-advertising industry. This year, there were more than $11 billion in acquisitions. Microsoft bought online advertising network aQuantive for $6 billion, Yahoo snapped up online ad network BlueLithium for $300 million, and Time Warner’s AOL unit bought Tacoda, which provides ad-targeting software, for an undisclosed sum.
