Washington – Antitrust regulators at the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) "appear to be laying the groundwork" for a challenge
to Google’s (NASD: GOOG) proposed acquisition of mobile ad firm AdMob, The Wall Street
Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. As can be customary
in such reviews, the FTC has reportedly assembled an internal litigation team
to handle a potential legal challenge to the deal; previous media reports
stated that the agency has been posing questions to Google’s competitors.
However, The Journal noted that the FTC "hasn’t made a final decision to
try to halt the AdMob deal."
Meanwhile, earlier this week Sen. Herb Kohn
(D-Wisc.) urged the FTC to closely examine the deal for potential competition
issues.
"Ensuring a vibrant and competitive mobile device advertising
marketplace should be a top priority for the FTC as it considers this
deal," Kohl said.
Related Links:
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(AFP)
It is interesting that Google paid 3x their internal valuation for Youtube (the investigation is still pending on this). Now, they paid an insane amount for Admob. Interestingly, both these companies are funded by Sequoia Capital who originally funded Google. Is it a pay-back time?