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Mar. 17, 2008 at 5:19pm Eastern by Greg Sterling
Search Biz: Google Pays More For DoubleClick, Benefits More From Online Ad Shift, AOL's Platform A Coming Together, & More
Last week, as you know, the EU gave approval to Google's acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. However, the deal closed at $3.24 billion, a mere $140 million more. But Google doesn't have to count its pennies during this recession, the company says, because its international growth, specifically in China-Asia, will help insulate the search engine against the US economic downturn to some degree.
That same relationship with China, which is insulating Google against recession, may come under fire given the Chinese government's censorship and blocking of YouTube as part of its overall crackdown on protests in Tibet. Here's more from The Inquirer. Meanwhile, YouTube continues to gain share domestically among video sites.
Silicon Alley Insider writes, under the unflattering headline "Google Sucks Life Out of Old Media," about how ad dollars are flowing rapidly online, away from traditional media, with Google benefiting disproportionately. Silicon Alley Insider also reports on a rumored process in which Google is compelling current DoubleClick employees to apply for jobs at Google to retain their positions.
Over at AOL, which apparently isn't benefiting quite as much as Google from the shift of ad dollars online, the company's Platform A advertising initiative is starting to gel. As the first steps in that overall integration, AOL has brought together parts of the Advertising.com platform with Quigo. The effort is now under the leadership of Lynda Clarizio, who replaced Curt Viebranz, dismissed two weeks ago.
On the other side of the country, Microsoft has acquired Rapt, which provides ad yield management systems for display ads for online publishers. Terms weren't disclosed. The company's assets will be folded into Atlas. In addition, Microsoft and YellowPages.com have struck a deal to feature YellowPages.com's content on Microsoft local sites, including MSN yellow pages and Live Local. YellowPages.com replaces Superpages in the deal. YellowPages.com is owned by AT&T.
Finally, Vivisimo, which brought us Clusty, has raised its first venture capital after eight years in business ($4 million) for enterprise search, which TechCrunch argues is too little, too late.
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By Greg Sterling
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