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Quote:Google reached an agreement today to acquire DoubleClick, the online advertising company, from two private equity firms for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies announced, an amount that was almost double the $1.65 billion in stock that Google paid for YouTube late last year.

The sale offers Google access to DoubleClick’s advertisement software and, more importantly, its relationships with Web publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies.

For months, Google has been trying to expand its foothold in online advertising into display ads, the area where DoubleClick is strongest. Google made its name and still generates most of its revenue from search and contextual text ads.

DoubleClick, which was founded in 1996, provides display ads on Web sites like MySpace, The Wall Street Journal and America Online as well as software to help those sites maximize ad revenue...

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/techno....html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Quote:Several companies, including Yahoo, AT&T and Microsoft, are encouraging regulators to take a close look at Google's planned purchase of online-ad company DoubleClick.

Although the companies have yet to file any formal objections with regulators in the U.S. or Europe, they are beginning to publicly voice their concerns, according to a source close to one of the companies.

If the deal goes through, Google would account for 80 percent of the ads served on the Internet, the source said...

full article: http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-6176180.html

I can't help but wonder..... why?


I should add:  All doubleclick ads cookies are blocked on all our machines!   

More objections to the deal:

Quote:The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Friday that details what they call key privacy problems with Google's and DoubleClick's pending merger. The online privacy advocate groups want the FTC to either make changes with the upcoming $3.1 billion deal or block it altogether...

"Neither Google nor DoubleClick have taken adequate steps to safeguard the personal data that is collected," the complaint states. "Moreover, the proposed acquisition will create unique risks to privacy and will violate previously agreed standards for the conduct of online advertising."

The complaint notes that Google has expressed plans to merge DoubleClick data with Google data to profile and target Internet users, but has only made vague statements about protecting user privacy...

full article: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/86nF...Deal.xhtml

[quote author=FiberGuy link=topic=9160.msg49773#msg49773 date=1176814463]
I can't help but wonder..... why?


I should add:  All doubleclick ads cookies are blocked on all our machines! 

[/quote]

Same here. I also run a spyware program daily. 8)

I wonder if G is going to re-think their motto "do no evil" after this to comply with truth in advertising standards...   

(ETA)

I should add, Google is fastly becoming a scary company, with so much control and market share of the internet. 

I'm not big on most conspiracy theories, but they are making me a bit paranoid of the internet's future.