Google one step closer to acquiring DoubleClick

December 20th, 2007 - Jeffrey Henderson

The Federal Trade Commission has cleared Google's purchase of ad serving giant DoubleClick concluding that the deal does not pose any anti-trust implications due to the large amount of competition available in the online advertising field.

"The FTC's strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers," Eric Schmidt, Google Inc.'s chief executive, said. "We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion."

While Google welcomed the good news they have stated that they will not be finalizing the deal until the European Commission also signs off the deal. The European Commission's cutoff date for review is April 2, 2008.

The European Commission declined to comment on the FTC's decision, spokesman Jonathan Todd said.

Shares of Google added $6.00 to $683.37 in midday trading.