Google's move for ad firm DoubleClick gets one OK

SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Google took one more step toward world Internet domination Thursday when federal regulators approved its $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising company DoubleClick.

However, Google must still jump through a rather large hoop before it seals the deal: European regulators must also sign off. The European Commission, which has an April 2 deadline, has emerged as a much tougher obstacle to approving large mergers.

But back on Google's home shores, the Federal Trade Commission voted 4-1 to approve the deal. The commissioners accepted Google's arguments that there was little overlap between its online ad sales and the tools that DoubleClick provides to allow other companies to make money from things like banner ads.

"The FTC's strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers," Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said in a news release Thursday morning. "We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion." The deal was announced in April, but it immediately prompted opposition on two main fronts. Google rivals such as Microsoft tried to argue that deal would give Google too large a share of the online advertising market. And privacy advocates opposed the deal because they worried Google would have far too much information about what its customers did online.