http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070413/tc_nm/doubleclick_google_dc

this is the higest spend ever for Goog's.. I think they have just cut out MSFT bid... and captured the Ad market in total now..

Will they become the next MSFT as a monoply ?

now its time for Dmarc to be leveraged into the market space.. and ad market is cornered into the google properties..

Both YHOO and MSFT ..must be biting their nails in frustration!

Currently breaking news on wsj.com/ ... and their track record of being 'right' with Google is pretty darn high ...

TechCrunch's comment:

"Microsoft was reportedly in a bidding war with Google for the company. (...) At least part of the acquisition price appears to be due to a desire by Google to keep this asset out of Microsoft’s hands."
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/13/google-spends-31-billion-for-doubleclick/

Crikey! For some reason, I hate – and always block – those DoubleClick cookies. If they were to change to Google cookies though, I'd probably accept them. I guess it's strange how you can get a perception of a company based on nothing but the banner ads they serve to websites.

I wonder if Google will eventually white-label AdWords as DoubleClick like they've done with the AOL Search Marketplace.

Now that they are a full fledged ad company, I wonder if they will have the same focus on improving search as before?

And how long can they keep search results pure when they have but a year to prove to investors their purchase of DoubleClick is worth the 3 billion?

>> GOOGLE REACHED A DEAL to purchase DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash, foiling Microsoft's efforts to acquire the Internet ad-services company. <<

The deal was bought in cash? .... At least thats what WSJ.com's headline reads.

Thats a WHOLE lot of cash!!! If Google could just give me 0.00001% or even 0.000001% of that $3.1 Billion deal, we can both call it a today and have a great weekend =)

<< I wonder if Google will eventually white-label AdWords as DoubleClick like they've done with the AOL Search Marketplace. >>

I think they're basically buying market share, so yes, I think they'll eventually switch to the simple text ads (and perhaps a few of the later image and video based ads).

<< now its time for Dmarc to be leveraged into the market space.. >>

...even though the founders have left Google?

=>even though the founders have left Google?

its about the technology platform..just like doubleclick is..

both plaforms glue together the ad space.. one is online ad's and the other is TV/Radio ads..

That was surprising...
Google will be serving some spywares soon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubleclick#Criticism

I guess you were right huh Philipp ;
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/91656.html#id91695

:)

"I wonder if they will have the same focus on improving search as before?"

Google is a search company. What makes you think they would stop improving search? The higher the quality of the search results, the more money they make.

Wow google is going to buy everything online it seems. Soon our banks will be run by google. Bye Bye President hello google analytics...haha
I heard google was looking into buying superrichguy.com
They said they are willing to pay $12.00 in Adsense...haha
Nice write up by the way cant wait to hear more about it when/if they release the info
Jason

[Unlinked URL. -Philipp]

I wonder if in order to cover the cost of this transaction, the new DoubleClick will go back to the famous Punch the Monkey ads :-)

$3B is a bargain for Google. They did this in style. DD needs to be completely revamped and Google knows how to do it. Good for them. Too bad M$ didn't get it.

From: http://services.google.com/blog_resources/Liberty_FAQ_final_041307.pdf [PDF]

<< Q. Did Microsoft's involvement prompt Google's interest in DoubleClick?
A. No. Our interest in DoubleClick stemmed from our commitment to provide more useful digital solutions for advertisers and publishers, and offer users a better online experience. >>

Yeah, right!

I'm going to have to wait till the integration is finished before I unblock doubleclick ads. Right now those are the most annoying ads I see online.

Tony, there's another lie in that PDF.

Q. Is this acquisition a response to the minimal traction Google has made thus far on brand advertising efforts?
A. No.

[ What?]

It’s an opportunity to combine our business with the complementary capabilities DoubleClick has to offer. DoubleClick and Google will be able to offer a better, more comprehensive experience than either company could offer alone — for advertisers, publishers, and ad agencies.

Hmmm.... Dangerous times when you're buying something just to keep it out of the hands of someone else – I was in Ottawa, Canada during the tech boom. One of my friends had been to a job fair and was hired by one of the large companies in the area for a position that wasn't to open for several months. She was paid anyway, in order to keep her out of the hands of the other suitors.

Worked out that 4 months after she was hired (and about a week before she was due to start), she got word that the position was downsized. She was given 3 months severance, giving her a total of 7 months of pay for doing absolutely nothing.

At this point, Google has not done well (in my books) with YouTube – indicating that these two sites will continue to live separate lives, receiving a large welcome from Viacom (which may work out), improving collaboration for censorship (Thailand), and being on the "Google" side of the "Anyone-but-Google" club formed by CBS, Joost, AOL, Microsoft, et al.

I'm similarly not particularly impressed with Google Analytics, since I had been familiar with Urchin prior to their acquisition, the "new features" have been fairly familiar. The scale is impressive, tho.

Either way, I'm interested to see what will happen over the next few months, especially if I start seeing DoubleClick ads referencing googlesyndication.com.

"Too much power for Google?: Schmidt : There are many choices. “Among the choices this was the best fit. We don’t see the concern you raised as one we’re very worried about.”"

Why this much and why in cash?: Schmidt: “We felt we could afford the price and it’s a very good deal for google and our shareholders.”

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-googleclick-execs-explain-33-billion-deal/

Wow, WSJ rumored that Google was interested on buying DoubleClick on April 2nd. and 11 days later Google announces the purchase.

http://blogoscoped.com/forum/90780.html

One more member in Google family. Boy... Google is really rich.

So the question is, is Google (more) evil now because of their purchase of an evil company or will they bend Doubleclick to their quasi-un-evil ways? My guess is that it will be a little of both.

Maybe an interesting detail: following answers have some parts (indicated by []s) that have different style ID than surrounding text (though it looks the same on screen with default settings in Adobe Reader):

Q. How will this acquisition benefit DoubleClick publishers? A. The combined company will offer more tools for publishers, enhance productivity and provide additional revenue potential while letting them focus more on creating and maintaining websites that appeal to users. Upon closing, DoubleClick [publishers will then have access to our large base of advertisers.]

((Hmm... was it first written just that they'll have access to their base, which would include end users, too?;))

Q. How will this acquisition benefit end users? A. When done properly, advertising can be useful and [provide relevant information at the precise moment when a user is interested in acquiring a service or product. Working with DoubleClick, we are confident that advertisers and agencies will apply that principle to display advertising across the web to not only benefit advertisers and publishers but also ensure] a high quality and relevant online experience for users. For example, by applying Google's scale and infrastructure, users will be spending less time waiting for web pages to load.

((This is also interesting: the biggest chunk of changed text belongs to what most of us most want to know: How will it benefit end users? Local tinfoilhats, what do you think was written here in the first version? My guess is just that the answer wasn't long enough (shorter than similar answers about benefits to publishers, agencies, and so on), so they inserted some marketingbabble to fill it.:))

Also interesting how Sergey stops himself in mid-sentence when discussing privacy issues:
http://blogoscoped.com/files/sergey-doubleclick.mp3 [MP3]

[Full audio at http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-googleclick-execs-explain-33-billion-deal/]

OK, let's get this straight.

Doubleclick hits bigtime in the second half of the 90's with obnoxious banner ads. Google counters with targeted text ads, making a point of them being non-obnoxious, and is highly successful.

Now Google buys the antithesis of what it stood for?

Has Google forgotten they good karma they earned when they introduced text ads? They haven't quite burned all their karma yet, but there's not much left and Google seems to be trying to get rid of their remaining karma as quickly as possible.

If buying Doubleclick now is the right decision, then starting AdWords last century was the wrong decision. More likely it's the other way round.

Can you spot the interesting bit in this screenshot?

http://www.vinnylingham.com/specialreports/cookiedetections/spybot1.png

Spybot no like Doubleclick.

Philipp, referring to your screenshot, i thought about what anti-spam applications would do from this point on. Do they favor DoubleClick & Google or still continue to list DD on their bad list?

It will probably take time for them and the whole internet community to change opinions about DoubleClick with their notorious past actions and tactics until Google can prove to us that DD can be a good thing for us. Like many people, i'll continue to have DD on my spam list & block them, so lets hope Google can change this quickly and we may all have a change of heart for the truly hated DoubleClick.

MarketWatch writes:

<<Microsoft Corp. said in a statement Sunday that Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Internet advertising company DoubleClick Inc. "deserves close scrutiny from regulatory authorities to ensure a competitive online advertising market.">>
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B3484259E%2D15E9%2D4DD3%2DA7D4%2DF7726EF0828A%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nbs

[Thanks Manoj! http://search-engine-blog.seocase.net]

If there was ever any doubt that Google was trying to own EVERY piece of the publisher’s business, this should end it. Think about all the data, relationships and inventory Google now owns: Text advertisers, display advertisers, search data, data from DART ad servers, radio ads, TV ads, and print magazine ads. Not to mention that they pump out products like Google Finance in DIRECT competition with many of their newly acquired customers...
(Comments continued on Pulse 360's blog)