European Union (EU) regulators will let the long-awaited Google-DoubleClick deal go through without conditions, an expert has said.The deal - which is opposed by a number of organisations, including Microsoft - was given the green light by the US federal trade commission (FTC) in December but approval from regulators in Europe is still being sought.
According to Greg Sterling, an analyst at internet consulting and research firm Sterling Market Intelligence, antitrust officials are planning to allow the purchase to proceed without changes, Bloomberg reports.
He went on to suggest that the ruling may come as soon as March 11th.
Mr Sterling stated that the "deal will ultimately go through" because Google does not compete with online advertising firm DoubleClick.
Meanwhile, Google spokesman Ben Novick said: "This is still an ongoing investigation, but we do not believe the transaction raises any competition concerns.
"We hope the European Commission (EC) will come to the same conclusions as the FTC."
There are now less than four weeks to go before the EC's deadline of April 2nd, by which time the regulatory body must have made a ruling on the acquisition.
Opponents of the deal, which was first announced in April last year, have claimed that combining Google's dominance in the search advertising market with DoubleClick's power in display ads could give the search engine provider an unfair advantage in the internet advertising field.
