Google is buying online ad company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in a gigantic all-cash deal that dwarfs even the recent $1.65 billion Google paid for YouTube.
Google apparently trumped Microsoft in the high-stakes race to buy DoubleClick, one of the largest advertising companies that would have given Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer the needed firepower to battle Google for supremacy in online advertising. Yahoo was also rumored to be in the race to acquire DoubleClick.
DoubleClick went public in 1998. It was bought by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in April 2005 for $1.1 billion. Since that acquisition, Hellman & Friedman have spun off parts of DoubleClick to other companies.
Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick will extend Google’s online advertising reach even further, combining its ad platform and publisher monetization services with DoubleClick’s ad campaign management skills. The $3.1 billion deal has the go-signal of the boards of both companies and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
[Via: DoubleClick.com]