Google Snaps up DoubleClick

By Greg McNevin

April 16, 2007: Google has closed a bidding war for internet advertising firm DoubleClick, knocking the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo! out of the race with an eye-poppingUS$3.1 billion (AU$3.7 billion) offer.

The all cash deal amounts to around twelve times DoubleClick’s forecasted ad revenues for 2007 and double what the search giant paid for YouTube.com last year.

This makes the deal Google’s largest to date, and considering the extremely premium price some commentators are speculating that the move is just as much a brash and aggressive tactic to cut Microsoft out of the search advertising market as it is an augmentation of Google’s advertising capabilities.

Outside of playing hardball with Microsoft, the deal gives it access to DoubleClick’s potent client portfolio as well as an sophisticated image advertising service to compliment its text-based ads.

"This transaction will strengthen our advertising network by expanding our access to publisher inventory and enabling us to serve the needs of a broader set of advertisers and ad agencies," said Tim Armstrong, Google's President, Advertising and Commerce, North America.

“It has been our vision to make Internet advertising better - less intrusive, more effective, and more useful. Together with DoubleClick, Google will make the Internet more efficient for end users, advertisers, and publishers,” said Sergey Brin, Google's Co-Founder and President, Technology.

Comment on this story