There’s a lot of sky-is-falling handwringing about the proposed Google – DoubleClick merger. Some claim it would create a monopoly that violates antitrust laws. The Federal Trade Commission and its European Union counterpart will be reviewing those claims. In addition, competitors such as Microsoft (with a straight face) argue that the proposed deal raises privacy concerns. Since when has Microsoft been concerned about your privacy?
One of the really cool things about the Internet is that you can always find a niche and monetize it. The big mergers won’t affect you because if the large conglomerate gets out of hand, new competitors spring up overnight to profit from its incompetence.
Google’s growth has reached the stage that it is where Microsoft was at in the late 1990s. The company has become too large to turn on a dime and the only way to grow is to acquire other companies because internal creativity stagnates with each new layer of bureaucratic management.
Remember the AOL – Time Warner merger? The same arguments were made about that as we’re seeing today. Needless to say, that merger didn’t take over the world. Heck, I’m just thrilled when my Time Warner Internet access works so I don’t have to head to a Starbucks to use T-Mobile wi-fi as a backup for online access.
If the current deal falls apart because of antitrust concerns, it will be a shame. Let the free market work. You’ll be able to compete and make money online even if Microsoft and Google were to merge one day.
