Monday, April 2

Google interested in DoubleClick purchase: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) has emerged
along with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) as a contender to buy
DoubleClick Inc., presenting competition that stands to increase the
final sale price of the online-advertising company, people familiar
with the situation said in The Wall Street Journal.
ADVERTISEMENT

Microsoft has appeared less likely to win the bidding as the potential
price for the company surpassed $2 billion, people familiar with the
situation said in the Journal.

Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX -
news) AOL online unit also have talked to DoubleClick -- which is
majority-owned by San Francisco private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman
-- though it is unclear whether AOL is still in the race, these people
said in the Journal.

DoubleClick is using investment bank Morgan Stanley to help explore
its options, including a possible stock market listing, the Journal
reported last week. Hellman & Freidman has reportedly set a price tag
of at least $2 billion for the advertising company.

Such a price tag could amount to a hefty return for the private equity
firm, which took DoubleClick private in mid-2005 in a deal worth $1.1
billion.

Representatives from Google were not immediately available for comment.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.