Google Aquires DoubleClick

-As Google expands into more advertising mediums they get closer and closer to becoming the Advertising Agency of the future. The real question is who should be running scared, is it the advertisers who will be at the mercy of Google or media companies who will be begging for a share of the ad dollars?

Ending weeks of a bidding battle with Microsoft, Google reached an agreement to buy online advertising network DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies announced today.

The deal expands Google’s foothold in online advertising. The price is almost double the $1.65 billion Google paid for YouTube last year. DoubleClick, founded in 1996, provides display ads on Web sites. The deal gives Google access to DoubleClick’s relationships with Web publishers and advertisers. Perhaps equally important, it keeps them away from Microsoft.

In 2005, DoubleClick was taken private by two private equity firms, Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity, in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.

I've been following with great interest the discussions surrounding an online media marketplace, which Ebay and other companies are rumored to be building. If anyone has thoughts on how an online media marketplace would work let me know.