EU investigates Google-DoubleClick merger

The European Union (EU) on November 13 officially launched an investigation to expand the $ 3.1 billion merger contract between 'giants' in Google search and online advertising firms. DoubleClick.

The EU confirmed that initial investigations were made soon after the alliance received a notice from Google about the acquisition of DoubleClick last September, showing that many competitors are really worried about the merger contract. increase strength 'for Google in the online advertising market. Seven expressed the most concern is Microsoft and Yahoo.

In the eyes of the EU, Google and DoubleClick are considered the world's leading online advertising services and technology providers. The extensive survey this time will assess in detail whether the contract to merge DoubleClick has actually created non-competitive barriers to squeeze other firms in the field of online advertising and negatively affect consumers. use.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said his company was disappointed when the EU decided to investigate an extension of the DoubleClick acquisition contract.

' We will continue to work with the EU to demonstrate that a contract to merge DoubleClick will only benefit consumers as well as advertisers. We do not want the contract to be delayed any longer, so we may be in a worse position than other competitors such as Microsoft, Yahoo or AOL especially when these companies have recently continuously carrying out major mergers in the advertising market . '

European Executive Director Toby Coppel welcomed the EU's decision to expand the investigation and affirmed that it was a necessity. 'An equally competitive online advertising market is a very important thing for advertisers in Europe. It is an important condition to promote creativity and bring more choices to consumers'.

Analysts said the merger agreement between Google and DoubleClick will contribute to the explosion in the development of the online advertising market. The sign of that explosion really manifested right after Google announced the acquisition of DoubleClick. A series of competitors such as Microsoft, Yahoo, or AOL continue to make big purchases to reinforce strength and prepare to compete with Google.

This EU survey will be conducted in about 90 days with the goal of related issues such as user privacy or competition issues rather than direct contracts.

The deadline for the final decision of the EU in this investigation is February 2, 2008.

Hoang Dung