European regulators approve Google deal

BRUSSELS, March 12 (UPI) -- The European Commission has approved Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, increasing its potential for ad revenues.

Google, which won approval for the purchase in the United States in December, immediately declared the deal was done. Critics of the deal complained that Google, which has 28 percent of the Internet advertising business and records 58 percent of U.S. Internet searches, would become too dominant.

Industry observer Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, told The New York Times, the approval "set the stage" for Microsoft Corp.'s bid to take over Yahoo! Inc.

Yahoo! recently turned down a $44.6 billion unsolicited bid from Microsoft.

Google's Doubleclick purchase may jeopardize some jobs, but analysts said the combination is well suited. Google concentrates on multiple placement of small ads, while DoubleClick targets more complicated ads targeted to a specific audience.