Federal Trade Commission chair Deborah Platt Majoras plans to step down, TheDeal.com and
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday evening.
Majoras was criticized late last
year when she refused to recuse herself from considering whether to approve Google's $3.1 billion buyout of DoubleClick.
Two advocacy groups opposed to the merger--the Center for Digital
Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center--had asked her to decline to rule on the deal after they learned that her husband is a partner at the law firm Jones Day, which represents
DoubleClick in connection with the merger review in Europe.
--Wendy Davis