Google Acquires DoubleClick; Who's Next?

Stock Tickers: GOOG, YHOO, AQNT, VCLK, TFSM, TWX, MSFT

Google did after the close announce it was paying $3.1 Billion to acquire DoubleClick (DCLK).  So they are going to trump Microsft (MSFT-NASDAQ) and Yahoo! (YHOO-NASDAQ).  What this does is give Google a much mnore diversified advertising model, and it should grow their internal agency advertising operations. 

We noted a while back when the DoubleClick deal was first surfacing that this should increase the perceived values in DoubleClick’s competitors.  We even titled this "After DoubleClick; Who Could Be the Next Buyout Target?" and made several refences after.

aQuantive (AQNT-NASDAQ), ValueClick (VCLK-NASDAQ) and 24/7 Real Media (TFSM-NASDAQ) are all competitors.  DoubleClick in the hands of Google would potentially make DoubleClick the most valuable and entrenched company in the online ad space arena, but it would potentially increase the relative value of these others.  This was pre-market on April 2, so here are the price comparisons with the APR 2 being the OPEN price listed by NASDAQ on that day:

VCLK: $2.6 Billion market cap; Online advertising and programs for large advertisers and ad agencies in Media, Affiliate Marketing, Comparison Shopping, and Technology. APR 2 $26.46; today $29.50.

AQNT: $2.2 Billion market cap; Online advertising for large direct advertisers and ad agencies: Digital Marketing Services, Digital Marketing Technologies, and Digital Performance Media. APR 2 $28.08; today $28.52.

TFSM: $408 Million market cap; used to be referred to as “the poor man’s DoubleClick” and was the most direct competitor in the past. Banner and online media ads for advertisers and ad agencies. APR 2 $8.08; today $8.58.

Earlier this week, Jim Cramer even went on and said that AQNT and VCLK have 33% and 31% upside based on a DoubleClick being bought after going private.

Microsoft and Yahoo!, and even Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL, may have just been put in the position that they all "have to" look at these competitors. 

Jon C. Ogg
April 13, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.