The $3.1-billion Google deal for display advertising firm Doubleclick has received Federal Trade Commission approval, removing the last major hurdle (unless you really think Europe does it in) to its completion. Most of the recommendation analysis is worth a quick scan, including the sole dissenting opinion from FTC commissioner Pamela Harbor (who cites my friend John Battelle’s 2003 blog post as an authority!).
Generally speaking, I’m pleased to see this deal go through. I’m not concerned about putative privacy issues, and I think that it won’t have a material impact on competition. More broadly, as history shows, integration issues around these sorts of large acquisition often create oodles of opportunities for competitors and upstarts alike, so there is another side to all the anti-competitive hand-wringing.
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