• by Tameka Kee , July 13, 2007

Yahoo announced that it finalized the acquisition of Right Media for $650 million, leaving Google/DoubleClick as the last un-cleared deal from this past spring's major acquisition frenzy.

Yahoo joins WPP and Microsoft in the regulatory green light club, as all three have cleared the standard Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust waiting period for their acquisitions--meaning that the FTC didn't feel the need to further investigate or block their intended acquisitions in the interest of market competition.

According to an FTC source, the aforementioned deals were not deemed anti-competitive, and as such, "are done as far as regulatory review is concerned," although shareholder approval is still pending for Microsoft's purchase of aQuantive.

But while Yahoo can focus on leveraging Right Media's technology and client base to spark its lagging display ad business, Google's DoubleClick deal remains under antitrust scrutiny. While FTC officials are not permitted to comment on investigations in progress, sources say the agency is grappling with the myriad of issues surrounding the transaction--including input from outside sources like the 4A's and the ANA and from consumer privacy groups like EPIC, as well as the information Google was asked to provide.

Both the Yahoo and Google deals have left a wry taste in some advertisers' mouths by creating a virtual vacuum when it comes to large-scale independent ad exchanges. "The core reason that people are willing to work with an exchange is because they're independent," said Anand Subramanian, CEO, ContextWeb. "The moment you're tied to a big corporation, publishers and advertisers alike get worried."

Insiders are also on the fence as to whether Yahoo will be able to implement its growth strategy and future plans for Right Media effectively, as the company's challenges in internal operations and project execution have been well-documented. For example, three years after snapping up Overture for its paid search prowess, Yahoo has still trailed Google in search share, year-over-year.

"They're a big organization with lots of internal challenges, and Right Media was this smaller company moving at 100 miles-per-hour," said Subramanian. "It will be interesting to see whether this slows them down to 10 mph or speeds them up to 200."