May 30, 2007 — Google Inc. said the Federal Trade Commission is investigating its proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. to determine whether the purchase is anti-competitive.

The company is confident that the FTC won’t find any risk to competition and will approve the transaction, Google senior corporate counsel Don Harrison said in a statement yesterday. The probe was confirmed by FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell.

Google, owner of the most-popular Internet search engine, disclosed plans to buy DoubleClick in April to bolster its sales of graphical advertising on the Web. The move prompted companies including Microsoft and AT&T to ask for a review of the purchase, saying it would hurt competition in the $28.8 billion global online advertising market.

The outcome of the government’s investigation will also hinge on how authorities define the markets that Google and DoubleClick operate in, said Andrew Klevorn, an attorney at Chicago-based Eimer Stahl Klevorn & Solberg LLP, who specializes in antitrust law and isn’t involved in the case.

Shares of Google advanced $3.59 to close at $487.11 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have gained 5.8 percent this year.

Microsoft, which lags behind Google in Web search, said in April that the acquisition would give Google more than 80 percent of the market for ads that are displayed on third-party Web sites. In response, Google said consumers and Web publishers are free to choose which services they use and can switch easily, undermining Microsoft’s claims.

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