SEO Blog

Reading through the Technology section of the online New York Times this morning, I was confronted with a question that reminded me why there is a thin edge of hope for Yahoo!. The question itself was very basic, requiring a simple Yes or No answer. The implications of asking me this question, especially this morning, shows the potential depth of one of Yahoo!’s greatest assets.

The question, which is probably meaningless to anyone living in the United States, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and even most of Canada, involves the fate of a brand-character for a regional beer brewed and sold in British Columbia. Just above the article content, a banner ad asks, “Should the Kokanee Ranger Live or Die?“  Believe it or not, it is a rather important query ringing in the ears out here.

So here I am, sitting at the southern tip of a rather large but isolated island on the far-west coast of North America reading news published on a far less isolated island on the far-east coast of North America and I get confronted with a banner ad promoting a regional beer that has absolutely nothing to do with New York. Neat eh?

The last official hurdle to Google’s acquisition of display marketing giant DoubleClick fell today as the European Union approved the $3.1 Billion sale early this morning.

An announcement from Google was issued hours later stating the acquisition has been completed. In a post to the official Google Blog, CEO Eric Schmidt said,

“I’m pleased to share the news that we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick today. Although it’s been nearly a year since we announced our intention to acquire DoubleClick last April, we are no less excited today about the benefits that the combination of our two companies will bring to the online advertising market.

Because we have been waiting for regulatory approval for our acquisition, we’ve been limited by law in the extent to which we could conduct detailed integration planning to map our way forward. That work will begin in earnest now. Although we don’t have detailed plans to announce today, we will communicate regularly with you about our progress in integrating our two companies.

The CBC, Bloomberg and the New York Times are reporting that European regulators are expected to approve Google’s $3.1Billion acquisition of display ad network DoubleClick sometime next week.

EU approval is the final hurdle standing in the way of the buy-out. When completed, Google’s purchase of DoubleClick will mark the biggest buy in Google’s history, nearly doubling the $1.65Billion spent acquiring YouTube.

The deal with also solidify Google as the largest online advertising channel with an estimated 65% of total online ad-spend moving through the Mountain View CA based company. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, amount spent advertising online will approach $50Billion in 2009.

Andy Beal’s Blog, Marketing Pilgrim is reporting that Google has confirmed a story that ran in Bloomberg.com this morning. According to Bloomberg, Google’s acquisition of display ad giant DoubleClick is going to win approval from the Federal Trade Commission as early as today or tomorrow.

Noting that both Microsoft and Yahoo have purchased display advertising firms of their own, the FTC appears ready to dismiss their complaints against the DoubleClick sale.

FTC approval clears one of two remaining hurdles in Google’s path. The other is an in-depth investigation undertaken by European Union regulators which is expected to be concluded and ruled on by April 2.