Microsoft to buy DoubleClick?
Looks like my former employer is again up for sale. DoubleClick is considering several potential suitors - one of which is supposedly Microsoft Corporation. The price? Well DoubleClick is apparently looking to get at least $2 billion in a sale. DoubleClick is currently private and owned by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.
DoubleClick was once the king of online advertising - serving up billions of ads a day to the entire Internet. It used to be that you could not go to any major website without seeing banner ads served up by DoubleClick. Of course.. Google changed all of that with their contextually targeted ad system didn’t they?
It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft does indeed purchase DoubleClick. If this happens, it’ll signal to the world that Microsoft intends to get serious with their internet advertising business. They recently launched their Ad Center product line and I imagine purchasing DoubleClick would be a way to increase their offerings in the ad space.
Buying DoubleClick would also provide instant access to thousands of clients that run the gamut of advertising solutions - from people who simply use DoubleClick to deliver banner ads to people who leverage DoubleClick’s web analytics solutions.
There is one cool thing about purchasing DoubleClick - their established infrastructure which Microsoft probably lacks.
Downsides to buying DoubleClick now? Most of the talent (especially on the development side) is gone. Actually, the most important person at DoubleClick is still there.. but I wonder how long he will stay? Thanks to L. for this tidbit
