GOOGLE is confident that its $US3.1 billion ($3.37 billion) bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick will win over European and US regulators, a company executive said - even as advertisers expressed concerns the deal will shrink competition. Rivals Microsoft and Yahoo also have complained about the deal because it will make Google stronger.
And consumer advocates worry about data privacy and the secondary impact on media that increasingly rely on internet ads to pull in revenue. The European Union"s executive arm has a Nov. 13 deadline to clear the deal or open a deeper inquiry that could take up to four more months. It would not examine the privacy concerns but stick strictly to how the deal affects the market. Google chief economist Hal Varian said the deal offers a lot to advertisers and the internet sites that show ads because Google and DoubleClick together would run a better and leaner operation that will cut costs, place more ads and help expand the booming internet ad market.