Google In Bidding To Buy DoubleClick 120
A number of readers clued us to the latest development in the saga of te sale of DoubleClick: Google has thrown its hat into the ring against Microsoft and (reportedly) Yahoo and AOL. Most of the stories quote a Wall Street Journal piece that is only available to subscribers. Google's entry into the bidding may boost the price for the remaining pieces of DoubleClick (parts of the company having already been sold off) to $2 billion, twice what its current owners paid for the whole thing. Some reports speculate that this figure could give Microsoft pause.
Great... (Score:5, Insightful)
Somehow I doubt it's to dismantle them and slowly kill the bastards responsible...
I said it in the last DoubleClick rumor thread (Score:4, Insightful)
Where'd all the DoubleClick fanatics go? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now we hear virtually nothing from these people. I think that this whole situation just goes to show how some of the most significant online media companies can become irrelevant so quickly. The MySpaces and YouTubes of today will likely be long forgotten even in as little as two to three years.
Re:I said it in the last DoubleClick rumor thread (Score:5, Insightful)
If the domain changes to "google.*"
Listen carefully, google-bots... right now, I've got no problem with google-ads and try to click through on anything that interests me. Change that model and you'll summon one of my less pleasant personalities
Re:Great... (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree: Google probably put the bid in to stop its rival Microsoft from entering the online advertising market in force. Plus, with with Microsoft menacing with its touted eye-tracking ad technology [slashdot.org], Google may be anxious to keep MS out of the ring, at least through merger or acquisition.
As for the union of the opposite ends of the online ad spectrum, I think Google will influence DoubleClick more than vice-versa simply because it is the acquiring company and has the prerogative of tossing out all of the old management. I hope.
Re:I said it in the last DoubleClick rumor thread (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Great... (Score:5, Insightful)
Presumably they'd be buying DoubleClick because it has value.. maybe they're just after their customer list, but more likely they're of the opinion that DoubleClick is doing some good business.
Patents? (Score:5, Insightful)
#
DoubleClick's "DART" Patent
# 5,948,061. This is DoubleClick's "DART" patent, entitled "Method of delivery, targeting, and measuring advertising over networks." Here is the abstract:
Methods and apparatuses for targeting the delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet are disclosed. Statistics are compiled on individual users and networks and the use of the advertisements is tracked to permit targeting of the advertisements of individual users. In response to requests from affiliated sites, an advertising server transmits to people accessing the page of a site an appropriate one of the advertisement based upon profiling of users and networks.
Re:Great... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I said it in the last DoubleClick rumor thread (Score:4, Insightful)
However, I do hate Doubleclick....
Genius! Google is Shill bidding? (Score:5, Insightful)
And in Google's mind, it might not even be evil. It might be PREVENTING evil. If I were Google (and I'm not, darn it) I'd totally play it that way.
Re:Great... (Score:4, Insightful)
Google buying DC is kind of like a good monopoly player buying a single lot they don't want, just to keep someone else from completing their set and building friggin hotels. Believe me, buying St. James Place for $180 now is way better than paying your opponent $950 rent later. Same idea here!
Re:Great... (Score:3, Insightful)
Same goes for Microsoft, I just can't believe even they will sink this low.
AOL, yeah...they swim around the same depth.
Re:Ok, it starts being irritating (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it possible to do anything good with this data, or is the fact that it is collected at all make any use of it intrinsically evil?
Re:Genius! Google is Shill bidding? (Score:5, Insightful)
It really is surprising to me that everyone here seems to come up with conspiracy theories to rationalize their worldview of doublclick as 'bad' and google as 'good'. They are both companies in business to make money. Doubleclick uses annoying ads because they make money. Google uses unobtrusive ads because they make billions. The 'dont be evil' thing is just good marketing.
Re:Ok, it starts being irritating (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't want to ask whether they want to do good or evil with the data. I just want to ask what they're doing with it. Whether I deem it good or evil is my subjective decision.
Re:Great... (Score:5, Insightful)
The only reason Doubleclick is such a big target, is because it is used by a lot of people. It already has a huge market presence. This was the same with youtube. Most people don't seem to understand that that is the important aspect of these buys. Anybody can build another video site, or myspace, but why would people move to them when they already have the originals. That is why they cost so much. It isn't really that complicated to understand.