European officials want more time to review the proposed DoubleClick deal, and critics in the U.S. hope the FTC is paying attentionSheer size has helped Google (GOOG) dominate much of the world's $30 billion online advertising market. But the search giant's massive reach is proving to be a liability in Europe. On Nov. 13, the European Union's antitrust authority held off on approving Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of online ad company DoubleClick, opting instead to subject the transaction to further review.
The European Commission's move, which extends the decision deadline until Apr. 2, is a setback for a deal that would broaden Google's already considerable ability to determine ad placement not only on its own search engine—the world's largest—but also across untold sites across the Web. Google may have to jump through additional hoops to win approval for the deal, whereas rivals Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), and Time Warner's (TWX) AOL are moving ahead with similar acquisitions that have already passed EU muster (BusinessWeek.com, 10/1/07). "We can't just treat this as just another competition case," Sophia In't Veld, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, says in defense of the decision.
Approval Still Likely
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