Google In the Running to Buy DoubleClick

Google has joined Microsoft, Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL unit as a prospective purchaser of online ad company DoubleClick. The potential sale price of the company is in excess of $2 billion, which some analysts believe diminishes the odds of a Microsoft win. DoubleClick is majority-owned by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, which stands to make a tidy profit on its original $1.1 billion purchase of the company in 2005. DoubleClick offers the lucrative service of connecting advertisers and publishers via online systems. AOL, along with News Corp.'s MySpace, is one of DoubleClick's main customers, and Time Warner's interest in the company is thought to be a means of protecting the relationship -- although there is speculation that Time Warner is already out of the race.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Reuters
Commentary: DoubleClick Exploring a Possible Sale -- WSJ • Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN: Big on Internet Advertising • Google: Focused on Better Targeted Advertising
Stocks/ETFs to watch: Google Inc. (GOOG), Microsoft Inc. (MSFT), Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Time Warner Inc. (TWX). ETFs: SPDR DJ Wilshire Large Cap (ELR), First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index (FDN), First Trust IPOX-100 Index (FPX)
Conference call transcripts: Google Q4 2006, Microsoft F2Q07 (Qtr End 12/31/06), Yahoo! Q4 2006

Seeking Alpha's news briefs are combined into a pre-market summary called Wall Street Breakfast. Get Wall Street Breakfast by email -- it's free and takes only seconds to sign up.