Updated: Google-DCLK Deal Officially Closes; Gets Nod From EC; No Conditions; Layoffs Coming
This story was written by Joseph Weisenthal.
Update 1: Also, the company has officially announced: the acquisition of DoubleClick is now complete, after EC approved it (see below).
Update 2: From Google's own blog: "Because we have been waiting for regulatory approval for our acquisition, we've been limited by law in the extent to which we could conduct detailed integration planning to map our way forward. That work will begin in earnest now...An immediate task we'll undertake over the next few weeks is matching and aligning DoubleClick employees with our organizational plan for the business. This will involve determining the right staffing levels for all functions and will ensure that we have the right people assigned to the right responsibilities within Google (NSDQ: GOOG). We plan to complete this process in the U.S. by early April."
Also, layoffs coming: "As with most mergers, there may be reductions in headcount. We expect these to take place in the U.S. and possibly in other regions as well."
Original post: As tipped last week, the European Commission has officially approved Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick. In a statement, the EC affirmed that the combination was not likely to harm consumers in either ad serving or ad intermediation, and unlikely to impede competition. While this outcome has been expected for awhile, the official approval places no demands or conditions on the merged entity.
From the statement: The Commission found that the merged entity would not have the ability to engage in strategies aimed at marginalising Google's competitors, mainly because of the presence of credible ad serving alternatives to which customers (publishers/advertisers/ad networks) can switch, in particular vertically integrated companies such as Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Yahoo! (NSDQ: YHOO) and AOL.
-- Shares of Google, which is in need of a jolt in display advertising, are currently trading up around 4 percent.
-- The green light comes about 11 months after the deal was first proposed (April 13, 2007), and almost three months after the companies got the nod from the FTC.
By Joseph Weisenthal