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EU to Investigate Google Doubleclick Acquisition
the linux geek writes "Google is undergoing an investigation by the European Union for its $3.1 billion acquisition of internet advertiser DoubleClick. "We seek to avoid further delays that might put us at a disadvantage in competing fully against Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and others whose acquisitions in the highly competitive online advertising market have already been approved," said Google boss Eric Schmidt. The United States' Federal Trade Commission has been reviewing the acquisition since May."
Not much to it:
EU will investigate Google deal
European Union regulators have launched an in-depth investigation into Google's $3.1bn (£1.5bn) takeover of online advertising firm DoubleClick.
The EU Commission said its initial probe had shown the deal would raise competition concerns.
It has set itself a deadline of 2 April 2008 to reach a decision.
Google said it would work with the Commission to show how the acquisition would benefit publishers, advertisers and consumers.
"We seek to avoid further delays that might put us at a disadvantage in competing fully against Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and others whose acquisitions in the highly competitive online advertising market have already been approved," said Google boss Eric Schmidt.
The European Commission is working closely on the case with the US Federal Trade Commission, which has been reviewing the deal since May.
Both Google and DoubleClick are involved in online advertising, although they have different roles.
DoubleClick helps link up advertising agencies, marketers and web site publishers hoping to put ads online and track them.
Google allows firms to target advertising at people using particular search terms and also stores information about users' internet surfing habits.
Could someone please get rid of the "dontXmebro" tags on every article?
Sorry, even American companies need to obey EU law while doing business in the EU.
Generally, companies agree to be bound to a country's laws in exchange for the ability to do business there. If Google wants to do business in Europe, it must submit to its laws. All states have similar provisions in the US for companies based in one state, but wanting to do business in another.
http://bgcommonsense.blogspot.com
Companies that do business in a region or country are bound by the laws of that region or country.
Google is bound by US law -- but for the business it does in the EU, it is also bound by the EU. The EU can say, "If you want to do business here, you need to abide by our laws."
They can also say, "If you want to bring your monopoly here, you can pay X in fines for the privilege, or get rid of your monopoly."
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Last time I checked the US Government seemed to think that everyone was bound by American laws, even if they're not US Nationals or not on US territory. Guess it's just Europe returning the favour ;)
Either that what it really is is that Google trades in Europe (e.g. Google.co.uk, Google.de,...) and so has to follow European legislation there. Even if the purchase was made in the US under US legislation then it impacts all areas that Google trades in and hence the EU believe they have a right to investigate its implications and impact.
...the EU thinks the deal is anti-competitive, but the FTC does not, would this stop a deal between two companies who are HQ'd in America? I understand that Google and DoubleClick operate globally, but I fail to see where the FTC would care about the EU's opinion.
Someone with some business/legal acumen, please explain this to me. I am but a humble geek unaware of the politics of billion dollar companies.
Bearded Dragon
Any internet company providing services within Europe is subject to European law. This applies to Google just as well as any other site that has a presence in Europe. Even if a site's servers are not physically located in Europe, if they are commonly accessed by Europeans, then they are providing a service in Europe and are subject to European laws.
Not an expert, but EU would easily prohibit google to operate within EU if they refuse to obey the EU laws, well after they would fine them anways.
I know alot of money is spent on online advertising, but how effective is it really?
/. I am not able to remember afterwards what the advertisements were... Does anyone really look at them?
...) are trying to dominate this corner of the advertisement market, which tells me that companies spend alot of money on online advertisement. But do they really profit from this?
When I visit a page with advertising like
Alot of the big players (Google, Microsoft,
09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63
Honestly though, with a company that big and doing business globally I would imagine that the EU would want to investigate the merger even if they were not legally required to. Something with that amount of potential impact shouldn't be left up to just one country
It's a leather thing
What do you mean by this? Americans are not ignorant we have a wide list of inventions. We invented:
So take that!! Americans are not ignorant!
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
I'm sorry, which of those was an American invention again?
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
You must have missed the joke
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
Ahahahh ohhh catchphrases being parroted and driven into the ground ohhh ahaha my sides!!!!
It has set itself a deadline of 2 April 2008 to reach a decision.
Charlemagne will be 1,266 years old on April 2, 2008. That's a lot of candles! Fitting that the Emperor Google will (or won't) be allowed to acquire Doubleclick on the (old) Emperor of Europe's 1,266th birthday!
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
What you are talking about is brandname awareness. Shout your brand loudly and hope it sticks so that when people go shopping they remember your brand and buy it.
Google is closer to advertising as it is done in stores. Google "knows" that you are in a hardware site, so they put up a display of something you might want to buy related to that. If you don't remember it or don't even look at it, though, you probably weren't intrested. Supermarkets don't really care if you look at their displays or not. They are there to convince people who were already looking, those people are intrested. When you are shopping for soda drinks a display for a new brand or a special offer will intrest you, that is all after all why you are there.
But as much as you might be intrested, you wouldn't want a show that stops you in your tracks for 30 seconds while shopping to tell you of this great new brand. Google COULD put up huge flashing ads, but it would also interfer with is main business.
You might notice that most personal ads in the newspaper, do not use color, full page, or nude women (well apart from certain sections) that is because a person reading the second hand computer section doesn't need to be attracted anymore, just sold. It is the reason that while shampoo is advertised with gorgeous naked women, it is sold by people fully dressed.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
There is a VERY interesting book on this subject called "The United States of Europe and the End of American Supremacy" available in your local bookstore or online. It demonstrates real examples of how the EU can really screw up a deal for American companies doing business in the EU if they want to.
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
If you want it to be possessive, it's just "I-T-S." But, if it's supposed to be a contraction then it's "I-T-apostrophe-S..." scalawag.
For something to noodle on consider aquantive's proposals are true conversion attribution. Google's entire business model takes advantage of incorrect attribution for consumer brand choice.
The moderators seem to have missed it too (1, undescribed).
I'm disabling ads until because I choose not to reward redesigns that are less usable than "view source".
The underlying hubris, I believe
All. It's a known fact that those inventions were released to the general public by Nameless Agency agents posing as foreigners.
The big brother is big indeed.
You could have even mentioned the Statue of Liberty. Done by the same guy who did the Eiffel Tower (Gustave Eiffel). Or even the world wide web.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Last I heard, the closest Google came to being a monopoly was holding 56% of the "internet search advertising" market. That is significantly less market than the general guidelines for investigation into anti-trust normally follow (70% or higher is the norm). The acquisition of Doubleclick is a vertical acquisition. That is to say, acquiring them does not gain Google any more share of that market. Rather it is a complementary market that actually hosts the ads on the cheap and is unrelated to searching. If you broaden the market to either online marketing or marketing in general to include Doubleclick, Google holds a much, much, much smaller share and calling them a monopoly makes no sense at all.
If Google had a monopoly, there might be concern that they were spreading that monopoly into this new market. As it is, however, one of their main competitors is Microsoft, does have a legally recognized monopoly and has quite obviously tied their monopoly to their internet search ad business via the bundled inclusion of IE and IE's default search settings. So far, the EU has not even bothered addressing that abuse, even though it effects this same market. Of course this is just one of the many monopoly abuses of MS they have not gotten around to yet.
Please, please, please for the love of Buddha, do not respond to this comment with a reply about Google search in Firefox until you're prepared to explain which one is a monopoly and understand what bundling is and why it is illegal only for monopolies. I'm so tired of explaining Econ 101 here.
Mod this up. Either as insightfull or funny.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
General Electric and Honeywell were going to merge in 2001. The merger got blessing of FTC, but it didn't get the blessing of European Commission, and thus merger was called off as General Electric didn't want to fight and take the matter into European Courts.
The general question in these cases where two companies are merging, does the combined company via merger gain dominant position in said market. If the answer is yes, there are two possibilities, the merger will be called off or Commission sets remedies that make sure the merging company doesn't achieve dominant position in market via merger, i.e. the merged company must sell of some assets. It should also be noted that the EU Commission works both in European wide level and also in regional level, meaning that if by merger companies create a European wide or at least regional monopoly, the Commission will intervene.
I myself think that the EU Commission is doing the right thing here and in other cases. If there wouldn't be any safe guards the corporations would sooner or later collide against consumers and form artificial monopolies. It should be mentioned that if a company gets into a monopoly position by fair competition, the EU Commission wont intervene, only if a company tries to play dirty of leverage it's dominant position from one market to another, then the Commission gets into action.
PS. The EU Commissions right to intervene in merger or acquisition stems from having those companies operating and having major operations in the area of European Union. If Google nor DoubleClick wouldn't have business in EU, EU Commission couldn't do nothing, but as they do, and as the European Commission is in charge, the companies have to also answer to commission on regards on their activities.
Survey research tool for commercial and scientific use
No malicious reporting there, after all, using the pejorative "boss" instead of the proper title of "CEO" isn't something anyone would notice. Everyone knows Google is evil, you don't need to market it.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
What's funny about this is the absolute masturbation fest that happens here every time Google farts. But nary a "Here, here!" peep from the minions about the fact that prior to the acquisition by Google, DoubleClick was the most hated entity on the Interweb short of Microsoft? And what would have been the response from the Google Drones had Microsoft succeeded in acquiring DoubleClick? The DoubleStandards are amusing.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
However, Americans invented and developed the Internet, without which we wouldn't even be talking about this issue.
More importantly, American companies need to pay the EU's extortion to to business in the EU.
But, in the online world, what consists of "doing business?"
If neither Google nor Doubleclick have offices in the EU, and someone from the EU visits a website in the USA that has Google ads and Doubleclick adds, which set of laws apply?
There are four boxes used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order.
Americans are not ignorant we have a wide list of inventions. We invented:
* The Steam Locomotive
* The Tank
* The Automobile
* The Jet Engine
* Magnetic Recording
* Cathode Ray Tube Oscilloscope
* The V-2 Missile
* Movable Type Printing Press
* Four-Stroke Internal-Combustion Engine
* Braille Printing
* The Eiffel Tower
Let's not forget the Internet
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
NT
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Especially not to a corrupt one.
Excuse me...how can something be moderated down when it is talking about the subject of a book that deals with this very subject in a factual manner? Must have been moderated down by a pissed off, unemployed, free health care Socailist European.
Both Google and DoubleClick do have offices in many EU member states, so your point is academic.
You said "fugit!"
Heh heh heh
I AM THE GREAT CORNHOLIO!!!
And that's where you're most wrong of all. Not only are the laws different in the EU but they are interpreted and used in a different manner. (read more below)
The whole case against Microsoft in the EU is the best example there is of the difference between passive US regulation and aggressive EU regulation. The EU steps in where the US would wait.
To quote the LA Times: "In the U.S., antitrust law is based more on the effects. If you commit an illegal practice, that practice has to have an effect on the market" ... "In Europe, you don't need to go so far. To prove you've committed an illegal practice is enough to punish your company, irrespective of the impact."
U.S. antitrust regulators rely more on economic analyses than assumptions of how consumers will be affected, antitrust experts say. While the EU philosophy is that protecting competitors helps consumers by ensuring more competition, which could drive down prices.
And finally, of course, the greatest difference is that the EU uses the Civil Law legal system ( from Roman Law ) with the exception of the UK. The UK/US Common Law system has a very different view and methods. On a sidenote the majority of the world's nations use the Civil Law legal system.
How terribly naive of you. Of course the EU can block it. That's why it merits a news item. Google and DoubleClick both operate in the EU, mergers and aquistions are subject to EU approval even if they have US HQ's. This goes for every major merger in the world today. If you don't get both the US and the EU to accept it - it's not happening. We're talking about WTO rules here to be precise.
Gore, no?
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
No, that's not exactly true. They are covered by EU/US law for their actions, even if it's in a foreign jurisdiction. Both commercial and non-commercial activity, including libel speech, is subject to domestic laws. The only problem is the actual prosecution of the people involved. Blocking the offending website is easy of course.
If it's a major company in the Western world you can be sure they will be held accountable. And possibly even extradited to the US/EU if need be. If it's a Russian hacker, you can be sure he'll be arrested if/when he visits the US for a conference. And if it's a Canadian Nazi he can be held accountable when he returns home for his Christmas holiday.
The issue is not jurisdiction, but prosecution. And there are several laws both in the US and EU that target criminal activities in foreign jurisdictions [that are only illegal from a domestic point of view]. The most recent case of this has been hate speech, terrorist activities and training abroad (for the US). And the EU has in addition to the above mentioned issues been concerned with sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Commit the crime abroad, legal as it may be there, but serve time at home.
Oh, I know that :-)
I was looking for the academic answer!
There are four boxes used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order.
With the notable exception for war crimes of course. And a quick look brought up other interesting examples such as PART II.1 Section 83.18(3)(c)(ii) of your Criminal Code relating to committing an offense "... an act or omission outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would be a terrorism offence;". Now, I'm not a Canadian lawyer but I would hazard a guess that there are more examples.
And according to PART XIV on Jurisdiction, Section 481.2 says: "... where an act or omission is committed outside Canada and the act or omission, when committed in those circumstances, is an offence ... proceedings in respect thereof may, whether or not the accused is in Canada, be commenced, and an accused may be charged, tried and punished within any territorial division in Canada in the same manner as if the offence had been committed in that territorial division.".
Actually that's not the whole truth after the Extradition Act of 1999 the crime no longer has to pass the same "duality test". I quote: "The new process instead requires a analysis of the alleged offense for which extradition is sought and if a similar offense prevails in Canada, ... the test will have been met".
Also extradition is probably subject to the long line of treaties with individual countries that Canada has with most the Western world at least. I found this article on the subject very interesting.
In conclusion the answer has be that it certainly appears as though Canada can prosecute crimes committed abroad however as always certain conditions have to be met. I won't press my point further as I am not familiar with Canadian law and I might also be plain wrong :)
(Not necessarily aimed at you, but anyone reading this who has been applying a double-standard. It's time to stop and think for a bit)
Believe it or not, slashdot is not full of advertising professionals. I know what you are saying, and I think you are wrong, but there's no point in arguing since 99% of the people reading this will see your post as pure gobbledygook. You might want to rewrite that post without jargon, and explain why pay-per-click with analytics is "incorrect attribution for consumer brand choice". Perhaps you are just jealous that Overture got it (mostly) right.
It's still an interesting question though.
To be clear I wasn't trying to speak with jargon, but to speak efficiently. Maybe I should present an intended audience with each post.
Overture is integrated with Yahoo, which therefore has the ability to ignore this issue entirely anyway.