14 DAY TRIAL // I could bet that Google will have to talk with the US Senate over the DoubleClick acquisition. So this is it. The Mountain View company's officials will have to explain the US Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights how the DoubleClick deal won't represent an unfair move for the rivals. According to Google Watch, the hearing will be held on September 27, being titled "An Examination of the Google-DoubleClick Merger and the Online Advertising Industry: What Are the Risks for Competition and Privacy?"
In case you don't know, the entire case was started a long time ago when the Mountain View company proudly announced that it managed to sign a deal with DoubleClick, an advertising giant which will join the Googleplex for $3.1 billion. At that time, numerous rivals such as Microsoft and AT&T complained that this move might represent an antitrust infringement and required the regulators investigations in order to clarify the matter. Since then, Google had to talk with the Federal Trade Commision, the European Union and other authorities to convince them the acquisition is not damaging the competition.
"We're looking forward to talking with Congress about how our acquisition of DoubleClick will benefit both competition and privacy, and we are confident that the acquisition will ultimately be approved by the FTC," a Google representative said according to Google Watch.
Obviously, Google has nothing to do than to talk with the authorities in order to receive the approval to complete the deal and include DoubleClick's technologies into its offering. But only God knows what will happen next because if Google is allowed to make the transaction, its advertising platforms will become even more powerful and it's a well-known matter that the products are already the top players on this side of the industry.