The Clearance: Google and DoubleClick

On Monday, the biggest question about the internet economy got its answer from the regulators, and the answer was yes. The Federal Trade Commission cleared Google's acquisition of DoubleClick on Thursday, December 20, with a four to one vote, ending an eight month review of the three point one billion dollar deal. The clearance is the December 2007 story, and the story is the lesson: the company that controls the advertising controls the internet, and the regulators have decided that Google's control is not yet the problem.

The Clearance is the subject of this article: what Google bought, why the deal alarmed the competitors and the privacy advocates, what the FTC decided, and what the decision means for the future of the advertising economy. The ruling came on Thursday, and the deal was the capstone of a year of consolidation in the online advertising industry. This is the story of the clearance, and the story is about the moment the search giant became the advertising giant.

1. The Deal

The deal was announced in April, and the announcement was the shot that started the ad wars. Google agreed to buy DoubleClick for three point one billion dollars in cash, from the private equity firms that owned it, and the price was the biggest Google had ever paid for anything. DoubleClick was the leading platform for serving display advertisements, the banners and the boxes that decorated the web, and the platform was the prize. Google was the king of the search ads, and the deal was the move into the display ads.

The deal was also the answer to the question that the industry had been asking: what would Google do with its mountain of cash and its dominance of search? The answer was the display advertising, the other half of the online ad market, and the answer was the ambition. The deal was the beginning, and the beginning was the alarm.

2. The Company

The company being bought was the quiet giant of the web, and the quiet was the power. DoubleClick had been founded in the 1990s, had survived the dot-com crash, and had become the plumbing of the display advertising industry: the software that the publishers used to sell their ad space and the advertisers used to buy it. The company had been taken private in 2005 by the private equity firms, and the taking had been the preparation for the sale. The company was the infrastructure, and the infrastructure was the value.

The company was also the data, and the data was the concern. DoubleClick's systems tracked the users across the web, the cookies that followed the browsers from site to site, and the tracking was the treasure. The company that owned the tracking would own the picture of the internet user, and the picture was the thing that the privacy advocates feared. The company was the asset, and the asset was the alarm.

3. The Fears

The fears came from two directions, and the directions were the competitors and the advocates. The competitors, led by Microsoft, argued that the deal would give Google too much power: the search ads, the display ads, and the data to tie them together. The advocates argued that the deal was a privacy disaster: Google would combine its knowledge of what people searched with DoubleClick's knowledge of where they went, and the combination would be the most complete surveillance of the internet user ever built.

The fears were the debate, and the debate was the review. The FTC had to decide whether the deal was a competition problem, and the advocates wanted the agency to decide it was a privacy problem, and the two questions were the two sides of the case. The fears were the pressure, and the pressure was the process.

4. The Review

The review ran for eight months, and the review was the suspense. The FTC examined the deal in detail, the staff studied the markets, and the interested parties filed their objections. The question was whether the combination of Google's search advertising with DoubleClick's display advertising would harm the competition, whether the merged company could use its power to raise prices or block the rivals. The review was the examination, and the examination was the test.

The review was also the political theater, and the theater was the attention. The hearings were held, the columnists weighed in, and the deal became the symbol of the internet economy's consolidation. The regulators were the referees, and the referees were the story. The review was the process, and the process was the suspense that ended on Thursday.

5. The Decision

The decision came on Thursday, December 20, and the decision was the clearance. The FTC voted four to one to allow the deal, concluding that the combination was unlikely to harm competition: the search advertising and the display advertising were different markets, the rivals were strong, and the merger would not let Google dominate the display side. The majority said the deal was not a competition problem, and the finding was the green light.

The decision was also the dissent, and the dissent was the warning. The dissenting commissioner, Pamela Jones Harbour, argued that the deal raised serious privacy concerns that the agency should have addressed, that the combination of the data was the real issue. The dissent was the minority view, and the minority view was the foreshadowing of the privacy battles to come. The decision was the ruling, and the ruling was the controversy.

6. The Consolidation

The consolidation was the year's pattern, and the pattern was the context of the clearance. The year 2007 had been the year of the advertising deals: Google's agreement to buy DoubleClick in April, Microsoft's purchase of aQuantive in May, Yahoo's acquisition of Right Media in April. The three giants of the internet were buying the three corners of the advertising business, and the buying was the consolidation. The clearance was the final act of the consolidation, and the final act was the approval.

The consolidation was the sign of the maturing economy, and the maturity was the meaning. The internet had grown from the novelty to the industry, and the industry was consolidating the way the industries always consolidate: the big players buying the pieces. The clearance was the regulator's blessing on the consolidation, and the blessing was the message. The consolidation was the year, and the year was the story.

7. The Lesson

The lesson of the clearance was about the control of the advertising, and the control was the control of the internet. The advertising was the fuel of the web: the money that paid for the search engines, the content, the services that the users got for free. The company that controlled the advertising controlled the fuel, and the fuel was the power. The lesson was that the regulators had decided that Google's control was not yet the problem, and the decision was the window.

The lesson was also about the data, and the data was the future of the debate. The deal was cleared on the competition grounds, and the privacy questions were left for another day, and the other day would come. The companies that collected the data, that combined the data, that built their businesses on the data, would face the questions that the FTC had deferred. The lesson was the data, and the data was the future.

8. The Future

The future of the deal was the closing, and the closing was the formality. The European regulators still had to review the acquisition, and the review would come in the new year, and the review was the last hurdle. The deal that the FTC had cleared would change the shape of the advertising industry, and the change was the future. The company that owned the search ads and the display ads was the company that the industry would have to answer to.

The future was also the lesson in the making. The clearance was the December 2007 story, and the story was the chapter in the longer tale of the internet economy. The year of the ad wars ended with the green light, and the green light was the beginning of the next era. The Clearance is the story, and the story is the lesson: the company that controls the advertising controls the internet, and the regulators have decided that Google's control is not yet the problem. The decision was made, and the future is the test. The decision was also the lesson for the companies that would follow Google's path, and the path was the blueprint. The companies that bought the data, that built the platforms, that consolidated the markets, would face the same review and the same questions, and the questions were the cost of the power. The clearance was the green light for the era of the platform giants, and the era was the future of the internet economy. The new year would bring the European review, and the review was the last gate, and the gate was expected to open. The companies of the internet economy would keep consolidating, and the consolidating was the pattern of the era, and the pattern was the story that the regulators would keep writing. The clearance was the chapter, and the chapter was the future.

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