Brussels, 14/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided on Tuesday 13 November to open an in-depth investigation into the planned acquisition of DoubleClick by the American company Google. The initial investigation carried out by the Commission revealed that the acquisition entailed competition issues in the markets for intermediation and ad serving in online advertising.
Alongside its internet search engine and online advertising space, Google also provides intermediation services to publishers and advertisers for the sale of online advertising space on partner websites through its network “AdSense”. DoubleClick, which is also legally American, principally offers ad serving, management and reporting technology worldwide to website publishers and to advertisers and agencies. These technologies allow publishers and advertisers to ensure that their advertisements are placed on relevant websites and monitor the return on their advertising investment.
The investigation should in particular establish whether without this operation - which was notified to the Commission on 21 September 2007 - DoubleClick could have become an effective competitor to Google on the online ad intermediation market. It will also examine whether this merger between the largest provider of online advertising space and associated commercial services (Google) and the largest provider of ad management technologies (DoubleClick) could result in restrictive, anti-competitive practices vis-à-vis other actors on these markets, thereby having a detrimental effect for consumers. The Commission has 90 working days (until 2 April 2008) to take a final decision on the effect of the planned merger on effective competition in the European Economic Area. (C.D.)