By Todd Shields and Dina Bass March 10 (Bloomberg) — U.S. regulators are seeking sworn declarations from Google Inc. competitors and advertisers as part of their probe of the Internet company’s bid to buy AdMob Inc., indicating the government may challenge the deal, said people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Google’s proposed purchase of AdMob would reduce competition in the market for Internet advertising on mobile phones. At least two companies are being asked to sign statements, said the people, who declined to be identified because the probe isn’t being conducted in public. The declarations put on paper information that Google rivals gave the FTC in its investigation of the $750 million purchase of AdMob, announced in November. AdMob sells ads that appear on Web pages and applications on mobile phones. The agency is assessing whether the purchase would let Google parlay its dominance in Internet searches on computers to phones. Agency officials typically collect declarations “when they think there is some significant chance” the agency will ask a court to block a merger, or seek to modify a deal, said Stephen Calkins , a former general counsel at the FTC who is now a professor of law at Wayne State University’s law school in Detroit. Even so, it’s not uncommon for the agency to collect affidavits and then not litigate, he said. FTC Discussions Claudia Bourne-Farrell , an FTC spokeswoman, declined to comment. Google, owner of the most-used Internet search engine, said it is continuing to talk with the FTC and provide information. “We’re not going to discuss the details of that process,” Adam Kovacevich , a spokesman for the Mountain View, California- based company, said in a statement. “We’re confident that they’ll conclude that the rapidly growing mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive after this deal closes.” Google rose $9.94 to $570.13 at 2:02 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock had declined 9.6 percent this year before today. Google and AdMob combined would form the largest mobile- advertising company — the companies combined had 21 percent of the U.S. market in 2009, according to Karsten Weide , an analyst with researcher IDC in San Mateo, California. Google said on Dec. 23 that the agency had asked for more information about the transaction. “It’s difficult to envision a scenario where this development, if true, is positive for Google-AdMob,” said Thomas Ensign , counsel in the antitrust, competition and trade practice of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Washington. “But it doesn’t necessarily mean the agency is going to challenge the deal.” Google’s negotiations with the FTC may persuade the agency’s staff that the deal won’t harm competition, Calkins said. When the investigation is concluded, it’s up to the agency’s commissioners to decide whether to challenge the deal in court. To contact the reporters on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net ; Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net
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Google Rivals Asked for Statements as FTC Probes Company’s AdMob Purchase
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