Our senior editor recaps what's in the news about the Google snap up of DoubleClick.

Friday's news that Google will buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion has the industry talking.

News organizations, analysts and bloggers have been speculating as to the reasons Google made this move, what it means for the online advertising industry and if the company can get away with it.

The sale gives Google access to DoubleClick's coveted relationship with internet publishers as well as the company's ad software.

According to AdAge, getting a better foothold in display advertising was cited as a business reason for the acquisition, as was streamlining the ability to buy an integrated search-and-display campaign.

Forrester senior analyst Shar VanBoskirk told AdAge the price "is almost inexpensive for what Google secures. It's now the unequivocal leader in the online space."

Indeed, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on Friday: "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,"

But eMarketer's Senior Analyst David Hallerman says the DoubleClick purchase is not solely about buying display advertising revenue. The long-term play, he said in his analysis, is about acquiring deeper relationships with large publishers and advertisers.

"Google has relationships with hundreds of thousands of online advertisers, from top corporations to a slew of mid-size and small companies," he said. "DoubleClick has relationships with thousands of large web publishers. Together, Google and DoubleClick will create a robust one-stop shop for all types of online advertising purchases."

Hallerman says that Google hopes these relationships will increase web video advertising earnings. DoubleClick has a large client base of brand marketers who will invest larger budgets in online video over the next few years.

Martin Reidy, president of Modem Media, told AdAge he thinks advertisers will get a better product out of the acquisition. "I like the fact DoubleClick is partnered with a strong company," he said. "You always think, are they funding it for the future or for window dressing? Google has vision; people are clamoring for better metrics and I think that's what you're going to get."

A MediaPost report agreed with this assessment, saying increased online ad spending is one expected end result if big brand advertisers and their agencies are able to tap a more efficient way to place, manage and evaluate all online ad and search spending with a unified buying platform and metric.

Blogger Steve Rubel sees nothing but upside here for advertisers. "Banner ads are great for branding but not for direct response. Now Google has an end-to-end advertising solution for both publishers and the clients they serve. The greatest value, though, may still lie ahead as Google begins to plow through 10 years of DoubleClick data and whatever they collect out from here."

It's the data issue that has others in the industry scared.

According to TACODA's Curt Viebranz, DoubleClick currently processes more online ad campaigns and more ad transactions than any other company in the world, by far, particularly at the high end of the market. "This data is a treasure trove," he wrote in MediaPost. If Google wanted to, it could know exactly how much money its AdSense distribution partners make from other ad distributors, be they Yahoo! or Advertising.com or MSN. This is very powerful data."

Brad Smith, general counsel for Microsoft, agrees, telling the Washington Post that Google would "have far more personal information on which to base its decisions about advertising placement, making it difficult for rivals to compete."

The acquisition of the data also raises privacy concerns.

DoubleClick utilizes a technology that remembers sites a user visits and serves up relevant ads, while Google keeps data about searches conducted on its site. Smith said Google would have "an unprecedented degree" of personal information about a person's activity on the internet.

Seana Mulcahy wrote in her Online Spin column Monday that this move feels a little Big Brotherish. "If Google has archives of countless number of search terms, Gmail data, photos and images, maps and locations and now ad campaign data... that doesn't leave much out. Just think about it, Google will know just about everything."

The privacy issues, along with Google's now shored up dominance of the online ad market, has many in the industry crying anti-trust.

Microsoft, which was a contender for the acquisition, is leading the charge.

The Washington Post reports that Microsoft has said that Google's proposed purchase of DoubleClick raises both antitrust and privacy concerns that deserve careful review by authorities.

"By putting together a single company that will control virtually the entire market... Google will control the economic fuel of the internet," Microsoft's General Counsel Smith said. "We think this merger deserves close scrutiny from regulatory authorities to ensure a competitive online advertising market."

Yahoo! and AOL had also expressed similar concerns over the weekend, reports the Financial Times.

According to eMarketer, Google is set to earn $6.3 billion in net U.S. online ad revenue in 2007. Meanwhile, total U.S. online ad revenue will reach $19.5 billion. Many economists define a monopoly as a company that controls 25 percent or more of a given industry. "With the announcement of its DoubleClick purchase, has the monopoly player just sealed the deal on control of the market?" asks eMarketer's Hallerman.

Already, BusinessWeek asked in a cover story earlier this month, "Is Google Too Powerful?"

Bryan Wiener, CEO of 360i, summed the whole situation up nicely for AdAge: "It's both interesting and a little scary," he said, explaining that the ability "to run a truly integrated search and display campaign is exciting," but the concentration of power is scary.

The boards of both DoubleClick and Google have approved the takeover, which is expected to close by the end of the year, dependent on the FCC rulings. We'll have to wait and see what the future brings.

For now, MarketWatch reports that shares of larger internet companies were trading sharply higher Monday. Not only were shares for Google Inc. up more than 1 percent, shares of DoubleClick's competitors also were jumping, with Google's acquisition fueling speculation of acquisitions by Google's competitors. Shares of 24/7 Real Media jumped more than 11 percent.

Dawn Anfuso is senior editor of iMedia Connection. Read full bio.