Top Senators Warn FTC To Review DoubleClick Google Deal Carefully

Senators Urge FTC To Review Google-DoubleClick Deal Closely from SmartMoney reports Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have urged the Federal Trade Commission to closely review the details and implications of Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick.

In a letter written by the Senators to the FTC, they wrote:

The implications of this for the Internet advertising market – and for the Internet as a whole – are profound and potentially far reaching.

The senators did not take a firm position on if they approve or disapprove of the deal, but they did say they had many questions about the details of such a deal. SmartMoney summarizes some of those questions:

These include whether display and text advertising were interchangeable or separate markets, what level of competition exists between Google and DoubleClick, whether the deal would raise barriers to entry for new players wanting to enter the online ad marketplace and whether the costs to placing ads on Web sites would rise as a result of the deal.

For more coverage and history on the Google/DoubleClick deal, please scan our Google Acquisitions category.

Postscript: Danny goes into more depth about the letter with some rebuttal in his Open Letter To Senators Hatch & Kohl About Google-DoubleClick post.