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The list of rumored suitors for banner ad server DoubleClick has grown beyond Microsoft according to a report at MarketWatch:
Google Inc. has emerged with Microsoft Corp. as a contender to buy online advertising company DoubleClick Inc., according to a media report Monday.
The competition between Google and Microsoft is likely to drive up DoubleClick’s price beyond $2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported in ins online edition, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation. See Wall Street Journal story (subscription required).
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Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL online unit also have talked to DoubleClick which is majority-owned by San Francisco private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman though it is unclear whether AOL is still in the race, The Journal said.
I’m still puzzled as to what these folks see in DoubleClick, particularly at the premium prices being bandied about.
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April 2nd, 2007 at 6:03 PM
It seems unlikely that Ballmer would have exposed himself to a potential bidding war with GOOG (and maybe others) if he was truly interested. MSFT doesn’t like to overpay and they would have likely sewn it up ahead of time. So it seems like either it’s all hype, or else MSFT’s interest is in seeing GOOG spend $2B for another potential headache.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:01 PM
[...] The rumors of Google and Microsoft bidding up DoubleClick were apparently true and Google has come away the winner: Google Inc. announced today a definitive agreement to acquire DoubleClick Inc., a global leader in digital marketing technology and services, for $3.1 billion in cash from San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman along with JMI Equity and management. [...]