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With antitrust clearance from the European Commission for its USD 3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising firm DoubleClick, Google plans to immediately begin integrating the businesses and examining staffing levels with an eye to possible layoffs, Google said.

Approval from the European Union's regulatory body came nearly a year after Google proposed buying DoubleClick. U.S. regulators approved the purchase in December 2007, over objections from Software giant Microsoft, Internet rival Yahoo and AT&T Inc, the largest U.S. telephone company, that DoubleClick would give Google too much power over online advertising and private information about Internet users.

Eric Schmidt, Google's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are thrilled that our acquisition of DoubleClick has closed. With DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform, which will enable us to rapidly bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies, while improving the relevance of advertising for users."

Within hours of the European Commission's approval of the DoubleClick deal, Google announced it had sealed the deal. Google says it has been limited by law from making detailed integration plans with DoubleClick, but by early April it expects to have a plan to cut an unspecified number of jobs in DoubleClick's U.S. operations and, potentially, overseas.

"As with most mergers, there may be reductions in headcount. We expect these to take place in the U.S. and possibly in other regions as well," Google said in a statement.
DoubleClick, of New York, has 1,500 employees, while Google, of Mountain View, Calif., employs about 17,000 workers.

Besides helping Google build a one-step shop for advertisers and Web publishers, DoubleClick also brings a wealth of information about consumer behavior accumulated through years of tracking online surfing. Coupled with the knowledge Google has gleaned from analyzing its users' search requests, DoubleClick's data will provide an even better understanding about what appeals to each individual consumer.

Google's pursuit of DoubleClick had a domino effect almost as soon as the two companies announced their marriage plans last April. Within a few months, Microsoft, Yahoo and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL had spent more than USD 7 billion snapping up other online ad networks and tools to mount a counterattack.