Microsoft resorts to lawyers to stop doubleclick deal

I didn't realize a company with only $150 million in revenue could justify an antitrust lawsuit. Don't publishers get to choose who to their ad space to?

""Google's purchase of DoubleClick combines the two largest providers of online advertising delivery and is going to reduce substantially the market competition on which Web sites rely on to provide advertising," The Journal quoted Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, as saying. Smith said that, taken together, Google and DoubleClick would handle more than 80% of the advertisements served up to third-party Web sites when a user pulls up a page, the Journal reported."

I see this as only being beneficial to publishers. Competitors will likely offer more transparency as to the size of their commission fee and google's margins should shrink to the benefit of publishers.

"The depleted cash position will likely put a large dent in Google's investment income in 2007."

I think this may be their big purchase for the year but it won't stop them from spending $5-$50m on a few startups.

Microsoft would be stupid to not even try to prevent the deal. They didn't get this far by not exerting legal bully power when they have the chance.