EC announces a larger investigation of the Google-DoubleClick deal

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The European Commission (EC) announced on 13 November 2007 that its initial
investigation in the deal Google-DoubleClick “indicated that the proposed
merger would raise competition concerns in the markets for intermediation
and ad serving in online advertising.”

Therefore the Commission decided to open an in-depth investigation in this
case in order to take a final decision on whether the proposed transaction
would significantly impede effective competition within the European market
or any substantial part of it.

The Commission also announced that it would investigate “whether without
this transaction, DoubleClick would have grown into an effective competitor
of Google in the market for online ad intermediation. It will also
investigate whether the merger, which combines the leading providers of
respectively, on the one hand, online advertising space and intermediation
services, and, on the other hand, ad serving technology, could lead to
anti-competitive restrictions for competitors operating in these markets and
thus harm consumers.”

The announcement of the Commission comes after several consumer and data
protection groups asked for an detailed investigation on the matter. Privacy
International sent on 5 November 2007 a letter, supported by EDRI, to the
European Commission DG Competition, Commissioner Kroes, arguing that the
merger could have serious implications for privacy innovation in
advertising.

EC will deliver its opinion by 3 April 2008 and the decision to open this
in-depth enquiry does not prejudge the final result of the investigation.

Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into Google’s proposed take
over of DoubleClick (13.11.2007)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1688&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Union Investigates Google-DoubleClick Deal (14.11.2007)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139595-c,google/article.html

EDRI-gram: EDRI supports PI’s comments on Google-Doubleclick merger
(7.11.2007)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.21/google-doubleclick-pi-edri