No time for complacency
When we reported on Google's planned acquisition of mobile display advertising company AdMob back in early November, we assumed it was a done deal. However Google's acquisitions are quite rightly attracting the attentions of regulators these days and the FTC has shown an interest in this one.
While Google's size alone (by market cap it's 75 percent larger than Intel) warrants the scrutiny whenever it makes an purchase, the fact that Google continues to dominate the search advertising market mean that any further online advertising acquisitions definitely need to be looked at for their competitive implications.
The two technology companies that have received the most regulatory scrutiny are Microsoft and Intel, both of which are in a position of near monopoly in the operating system and CPU markets respectively. This means they're subject to a special set of rules as their behaviour can have a uniquely profound effect on the competitive environment in which they operate.
The question is: has Google reached that stage? In search alone, probably not. There is enough competition from the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo! to reassure regulators there. But in the mobile market things are starting to look a bit more worrying.
Google group product manager, Paul Feng, blogged on the subject yesterday. "As we said when we announced the deal, we don't see any regulatory issues with this deal, because the rapidly growing mobile advertising space is highly competitive with more than a dozen mobile ad networks.
"That said, we know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google's success, and we've been talking to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the past few weeks. This week we received what's called a ‘second request,' which means that the FTC is asking for more information so that they can continue to review the deal.
"While this means we won't be closing right away, we're confident that the FTC will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive after this deal closes. And we'll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review."
