Microsoft is up in arms about Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of Double Click. Keep in mind that Microsoft was also vying to buy them. So now they are whining to the SEC about the deal. Here’s the quote from Brad Smith, MS General Counsel.
“This proposed acquisition raises serious competition and privacy concerns in that it gives the Google DoubleClick combination unprecedented control in the delivery of online advertising, and access to a huge amount of consumer information by tracking what customers do online. We think this merger deserves close scrutiny from regulatory authorities to ensure a competitive online advertising market.”
They are SO concerned about Google’s so called monopoly of the online ad market because they will now supposedly control 85% of it. Obviously, the same concerns don’t apply to the Desktop PC market? Remember when Ballmer said “I don’t know monopoly, I only know marketshare” or some such nonsense? Note the sly “fear mongering” part about “tracking what customers do online”. As Nate Anderson from Ars Technica wrote in his blog, this will not end here. You can expect “independent reports” to be comissioned, politicians to be lobbyed(read BRIBED), grassroots campaigns (of the astroturf variety) to be launched etc., to derail this deal.
To those that equate this to Microsoft’s DOJ trial, as far as I know Google hasn’t set up any barriers to entry in this space. And they certainly aren’t threatening anyone with retaliation if you don’t use Google.