It comes as little surprise that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating Google Inc.'s recent agreement to buy online advertising giant DoubleClick Inc., after privacy groups and industry rivals including Microsoft Corp. raised havoc over the proposed $3.1 billion all-cash deal. The New York Times and Computerworld reported Tuesday that the FTC opened a preliminary antitrust probe into the acquisition late last week, and the FTC and the Department of Justice will conduct the review. Google has said it is confident that the deal will withstand scrutiny. Privacy pundits have raised concerns over Google's collection of user search histories and DoubleClick's tracking of which Web sites people visit. Regulators are also expected to weigh the likely impact on competition and market share. —Cheryl Meyer
See May 29 story from The Deal
See April 18 story from The Deal
See The New York Times article
See Computerworld article
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