According to NETCompetition.org, the recent buyout of Doubleclick will attract very close scrutiny. The organization says that Google continues to exploit antitrust laws in order to dominate internet advertising.
Scott Cleland, the Chairman of NETCompetition.org, has released a white paper entitled “How Google-DoubleClick is Exploiting Antitrust Law’s Weak Underbelly to Dominate Internet Advertising,” that examines Google’s recent acquisition of DoubleClick.
The white paper looks at Google’s recent acquisitions and the company’s overall business objective to get rid of potential competitors in what NETCompetition.org is calling a “clever manner that will not likely be scrutinized by the Government”. The report concludes the following:
– Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick represents another critical building block in Google’s shrewd strategy to further dominate the Internet advertising market.
– Google’s “global growth strategy” is the public euphemism for its grand plan to systematically foreclose its potential Internet advertising competition.
– The DoubleClick acquisition skillfully exploits antitrust law’s weak underbelly, so it is unlikely to be blocked by the Government.
– Google is on the path to dominate and possibly monopolize Internet search in the next several years.
– Google is currently leveraging its search dominance into Internet advertising in much the same way Microsoft leveraged its dominance in operating systems into PC software applications (Windows) in the 1990’s.
– Google’s very sophisticated (anti-)competitive foreclosure strategy goes beyond acquisitions to include: share-buying “business partnerships;” systematic theft of intellectual property; systematic click fraud; weak Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls; predatory proposed regulation of broadband competitors; and aggressive competitive arbitrage of privacy law.
Here are some interesting snippets from the document:
What is Google’s real (anti-)competitive endgame in buying DoubleClick?
Google’s $3.1b purchase of DoubleClick brilliantly positions Google to further dominate Internet advertising in a way that is very difficult for antitrust authorities to prove is anti-competitive in a court of law. Google has figured out an ingenious, predatory, anti-competitive, acquisition strategy, that exploits antitrust law’s weak underbelly and that positions Google to effectively dominate much of the Internet advertising market over the next several years.It is increasingly apparent that Google is in the process of (anti-)competitively checkmating a wide swath of unsuspecting competitors who haven’t figured out Google’s real endgame. Google’s predatory acquisitions are only one facet of Google’s overall “global growth strategy” to foreclose future competition and further dominate the Internet of the future.
While Google’s stated mission is to “organize the world’s information,” it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Google’s real business endgame is to become the dominant online-advertising distribution-network in much the same way that Microsoft cornered the PC software market in the 1990’s.
– The DoubleClick acquisition, like Google’s acquisition of YouTube, is really all about achieving competitive foreclosure long term. Google’s “partnership’ strategy is also all about competitive foreclosure: i.e. Google’s buys market share dominance through a search exclusive: with Dell for computers, and with AOL and MySpace for users.
– More than any other company, Google may have figured out how to leverage firstmover advantage and network effects — to foreclose future competition in online advertising through vertical integration, strategic “partnerships,” and other clever (anti-) competitive behaviors.
NETCompetition.org is an e-forum to debate the merits of net neutrality. It is funded by broadband telecom, cable and wireless companies who believe in free and open Internet competition, not net regulation.
Update: links in this post have been removed. November 15, 2014.