Google announced today that they will be acquiring DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion (in cash). DoubleClick is a global leader in digital marketing technology and services, and is well-known for its online ad management technology.

“It has been our vision to make Internet advertising better – less intrusive, more effective, and more useful. Together with DoubleClick, Google will make the Internet more efficient for end users, advertisers, and publishers,” said Sergey Brin, Google's Co-Founder and President, Technology.

“DoubleClick's technology is widely adopted by leading advertisers, publishers and agencies, and the combination of the two companies will accelerate the adoption of Google's innovative advances in display advertising,” said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google.

“This transaction will strengthen our advertising network by expanding our access to publisher inventory and enabling us to serve the needs of a broader set of advertisers and ad agencies,” said Tim Armstrong, Google's President, Advertising and Commerce, North America.

“Google is the absolute perfect partner for us,” said David Rosenblatt, Chief Executive Officer of DoubleClick. “Combining DoubleClick's cutting edge digital solutions for both media buyers and sellers with Google's scale and innovative resources will bring tremendous value to both our employees and clients.”

Google recently acquired YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction.

I wonder who is going to acquire what next?

Source: Press Release

[tags]google, doubleclick, youtube, news[/tags]