AllThingsD: Google Buys Another Firm in "Sector that Google Already Dominates"

The latest in Google’s string of acquisitions is advertising technology company, AdMeld, according to an AllThingsD article titled “Google Will Keep Washington Regulators Busy With $400 Million AdMeld Deal.” Peter Kafka writes:

“Like other recent Google purchases, this deal will automatically generate scrutiny from Washington before it can formally close. That’s both because of the size of the deal — around $400 million — and because the purchase deals with a sector that Google already dominates — display ad sales.”

What does Google want with AdMeld?

The short answer is that Google is looking to bolster its rising role in the $10.1 billion U.S. display advertising market. As of March 1, Google’s market share in display ads was nearly 50%.

How will AdMeld help Google expand its display advertising presence?

AllThingsD: “AdMeld is one of a handful of big ad optimization platforms that work on behalf of publishers by trying to get the best prices for their inventory from a variety of ad networks. That kind of work is one of the few parts of the ad tech ecosystem where Google didn’t already have a presence, so a deal for AdMeld or one of its peers always seemed inevitable.”

According to AllThingsD, Google thinks this acquisition won’t raise any issues from regulators. AllThingsD cites “the fact that Google got the go-ahead for an even larger deal last year – its $750 million AdMob purchase.”

It’s worth noting that since Google’s AdMob purchase, Google has come to dominate mobile search with an over 97% share of the global market, leaving little room for competition. And of course, without competition, there’s little incentive for innovation or fair pricing…

*As a note, this news broke yesterday. Sorry we didn’t report on it earlier, but we didn’t see it in our Google News feed. Google’s well-timed release of its Les Paul Doodle seems to have distracted us all from the real issues.