• PaidContent.org, Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:15 AM

What can Google expect from DoubleClick this year? In a research note, Lehman Brothers analyst Doug Anmuth forecasts that DoubleClick will sell $300 million worth of its advertising products on EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $50-$60 million for the year. Full year earnings will also be slightly diluted thanks to the ad-serving giant's hefty price tag of $3.24 billion.

Anmuth says the real opportunity for Google is in leveraging DoubleClick's relationships with publishers and advertisers. The search king will want to convince advertisers to buy more ads across its AdSense network. Conversely, it will want to convince more publishers to either join AdSense or sell more AdWords ads.

After nearly a year of regulatory hurdles, the Lehman analyst adds that Microsoft's pursuit of Yahoo couldn't come at a better time for Google, because Microhoo inevitably faces lengthy regulatory hurdles of its own. Meanwhile, Anmuth also claims the alleged slowdown in Google's text ad business is due to intentional improvements in overall ad quality, which the search giant hopes will make it easier to convince DoubleClick advertisers to buy more across the Google network.

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