Monday, October 12, 2020

Google’s Problematic Acquisition of DoubleClick

 In April of 2007, Google completed a deal to buy DoubleClick for $3.1B, growing their already massive company and further extending their digital reach. This deal also brought forth questions around how anti-trust laws should be used for tech companies and whether Google is in danger of taking over too much market power. The Justice Department and state attorney generals have since had investigations going around Google and whether the company has cut off competitors with their empire and addition of DoubleClick. The Justice Department has been planning to file an antitrust lawsuit against the media giant, citing the potential evidence on whether Google skews search results to favor its own products and has used its expansive reach to shut out rivals. This potential lawsuit is bringing into the light questions around whether the country needs a more pre-emptive approach for handling large tech corporations and their purchases of other companies. If they were to change the law so that spinoffs were forced if one corporation made too large of an acquisition, Google’s purchase of DoubleClick would have never been possible.

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