European Union (EU) regulators are to put Google's plan to purchase online advertising company DoubleClick under a 90-day investigation, it has been revealed.In a statement, the European Commission (EC), the EU's antitrust body, said it is to review the deal and make a ruling prior to April 2nd 2008.
It said: "The commission's initial market investigation indicated that the proposed merger would raise competition concerns."
The possible acquisition has prompted concern from a number of companies since it was announced in April, including Yahoo!, Microsoft and AT&T.
Although admitting he was disappointed with the EC's decision, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt stated: "We will continue to work with the commission to demonstrate how our proposed acquisition will benefit publishers, advertisers and consumers.
"We seek to avoid further delays that might put us at a disadvantage in competing fully against Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and others whose acquisitions in the highly competitive online advertising market have already been approved."
Earlier this month, AOL announced it had bought contextual ad firm Quigo, its fourth advertising acquisition this year. Yahoo!, meanwhile, purchased online ad exchange firm Right Media in April.
Commenting on the EC's decision to probe Google's intended takeover, Ted Coppel, Yahoo! managing director, said that the commission's resolution to undertake a thorough examination will provide the detailed analysis that Yahoo! believes is necessary in this case.
