San Francisco: Google Inc said on Friday it would buy Web advertising tools provider DoubleClick Inc for $3.1 billion, its biggest acquisition, to accelerate its push into the graphic ad market now dominated by Yahoo Inc.
Google, the juggernaut of search-based advertising on the Web, beat out other DoubleClick suitors that included Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo in the final stages, sources familiar with the negotiations said. Time Warner Inc.'s AOL online unit had earlier considered a bid.
The deal propels Google deeper into the Web display ad market, which includes richer graphic and online banner ads for corporate brands, and represents half of online marketing.
Until now, this business has been dominated by rival Yahoo. "This shores up Google as the absolute leader in the online space," said Forrester Research senior analyst Shar VanBoskirk.
"This rounds out their capabilities in everything in the online space. There isn't anything they don't have." New York-based DoubleClick would also fortify Google with ad-targeting and analysis capabilities as the company expands into print, radio, video, mobile and television ad markets.
"The DoubleClick platform touches so many of the existing Google customers," Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on a conference call. "It accelerates our entry into some of these markets by several years."
The all-cash deal is expected to close by the end of the year, once the deal receives necessary regulatory approvals. The announcement comes just six months after Google paid $1.65 billion for video-sharing site YouTube.
DoubleClick, a dot-com stock market star that was a leading independent player in the first generation of online advertising during the 1990s, has been majority-owned by San Francisco private equity firm Hellman & Friedman since 2005.
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