When Google bought DoubleClick in April, they triggered not just demands by competitors for the regulators to stop the deal, but a string of similar acquisitions. What followed this tipping point can be seen in the list on the right, which is from the WSJ (subscription required). Just one month after Google's acquisition, Yahoo, the WPP Group - and now Microsoft - spent tons of money paying premiums for other online ad companies. The online ad market is predicted to reach $20 billion this year - the same size as radio ads - and the shift from traditional media to new media will continue for the next few years. This will leave the printed media in particular with empty hands. In a market that was always slow-moving one can expect that most of them won't be able to react fast enough in shifting their own focus online, too.

When even Microsoft complains that a company is becoming too dominant, it can only be about Google, who really do dominate the online advertisement business to a level that we have only seen previously from Microsoft itself. So far Google has tried everything to not be seen as the evil power it has the potential to become, given its market position. But of course its pure market power could, in the wrong hands, be misused quite a bit. The acquisition of DoubleClick demonstrates this quite well. Any business they want they can get, with no fear of anyone outbidding them. Of course this deal has yet to be approved by the regulators, and Microsoft, AT&T, Time Warner, Yahoo etc. will be working hard now to convince them to stop the deal. Comments such as this from Microsoft show where they will be taking the discussion:

"Google's purchase of DoubleClick combines the two largest providers of online advertising delivery and is going to reduce substantially the market competition on which Web sites rely on to provide advertising," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. He said that, taken together, Google and DoubleClick would handle more than 80% of the advertisements served up to third-party Web sites when a user pulls up a page.