Google’s purchase of AdMob may be blocked for being “harmful”

Ilinca Nita  By on 29 Dec 09

Remember the Google-AdMob deal, according to which Google will buy the mobile advertising company for $750 million?

Well, the deal isn’t closed yet, and it looks like things are that easy for Google.

Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) have sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking it to block the purchase.

The two advocacy groups say that the purchase “would substantially lessen competition in the increasingly important mobile advertising market” and that it’s “harmful to consumers, advertisers and application developers, among others.” So they “call on the FTC to use the appropriate statutory and regulatory authority to oppose the merger.”

The groups go further by pointing out that the upcoming Google Nexus One “also raises competitive questions the commission should address”. More exactly, the data “gathered through the Google/AdMob advertising network could give Google information about its competitors that would be advantageous in marketing its new smartphone, as well models using its Android operating system.”

You can read the full letter to the FTC here (PDF link).

Google AdMob purchase blocked

If the FTC finally approves the purchase of AdMob by Google, it would be Google’s third most expensive acquisition, after the purchase of DoubleClick and YouTube (for $3.1 billion and $1.65 billion, respectively).

Via Reuters

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