It looks like Microsoft, Yahoo and a list of a other competitors are getting their wish as the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has opened a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of online ad firm DoubleClick. According to The New York Times, the probe actually began last week. The article connects the probe to letters of complaint (link to PDF document) sent by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy and the United States Public Interest Research Group.
So far, the FTC has declined to comment on the action, but the news is sure to change the tenor of the recent mega deals. In particular, just after publicly calling for an investigation into the DoubleClick deal, Microsoft changed tactics and spent $6 billion for ad firm aQuantive.
Considering that the Google/DoubleClick deal is worth half ($3.1
billion) the Microsoft ad firm deal, at this point it would hardly be reasonable to only investigate Google’s deal and leave Microsoft’s off the table.
In any case, what is historic about this development is that it is the first time I can remember the word antitrust being seriously used in the same sentence as Google in connection with an agency capable of actually following through on such questions. The "don't be evil" party is officially over.
Photo: Charles Haynes
