EU Rolls Out the Hate on Google, DoubleClick
November 14, 2007 - 11:06 am - Posted by iDunzo
Leave it to the European Commission to ruin a good party.
On Tuesday, the antitrust arm of the European Commission nixed approval on Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, citing competitive concerns.
The EU also ordered an in-depth review into the acquisition.
The scale of the deal certainly raises eyebrows — $3.1 billion isn’t chopped liver — but by most estimates, Google grossly overpaid for the company.
DoubleClick’s annual revenue — which reportedly falls short of $200 million — hardly puts a dent in the overall Web ad market, which is estimated to be worth anywhere from $17 billion to $20 billion.
The bigger question is this: Why didn’t the European Commission pick on Yahoo for its $680 million purchase of RightMedia in July 2007?
And what about Microsoft’s $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive in August of this year?
Wow. Seriously! What gives? I don’t get it. There has to be another explanation…besides haterade?
November 14th, 2007 at 12:06 pm