An update on our AdMob acquisition
Since we announced our plans to acquire AdMob, we've been excited about the positive reaction — particularly from advertisers and publishers who have told us that they're enthusiastic about the possibilities for how the combination of AdMob and Google …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second time Google has walked a large advertising acquisition through federal antitrust review — its DoubleClick purchase closed in March 2008 after a similarly high-profile examination, and the company is running the same playbook here: a Public Policy Blog update arguing that advertisers and publishers themselves want the deal.
That defensive posture makes sense given the same-day news cycle: the New York Times' Bits blog reports the F.T.C. is stepping up scrutiny of the pending AdMob acquisition, so Google's post functions less as a progress note than as a public case for why the combination serves customers.
First-order effects
- The FTC's intensified review extends the regulatory runway for Google's pending acquisition, keeping AdMob operating independently until the agency reaches a judgment.
- Advertisers and publishers who voiced enthusiasm for the combination now have that support folded into Google's formal argument to regulators, raising the stakes for them if the deal stalls.
Second-order effects
- App publishers choosing a mobile advertising partner face a hedging decision during the review period — a blocked deal would leave AdMob's network hunting for an alternative acquirer, reshuffling publisher contracts.
- By making customer enthusiasm part of the public record, Google pressures the FTC to weigh advertiser and publisher demand alongside market-concentration concerns, the exact dynamic that shaped the DoubleClick review two years earlier.
Third-order effects
- If the DoubleClick-then-AdMob sequence holds as a pattern, every sizable advertising-platform acquisition becomes an antitrust referendum on how much concentration in search and mobile advertising regulators will tolerate.
- A prolonged review signals to mobile ad networks and would-be acquirers that consolidation in smartphone-era advertising will clear at the pace of Washington, not Silicon Valley dealmaking.
The trend: Antitrust review is becoming a standard gate for large digital-advertising acquisitions, from desktop display networks like DoubleClick to the emerging mobile ad market.