WPP wants close EU probe of Google’s proposed Admob acquisition

“Regulatory authorities should look closely into Google’s buy of mobile advertising leader AdMob as this reinforces Google’s market power, the head of WPP, the world’s largest advertising group by sales, said on Monday,” Marcin Grajewski reports for Reuters.

“Last November, world number 1 search engine Google unveiled the $750 million deal to buy AdMob, which controls about one third of the market for putting ads on mobile applications and web pages,” Grajewski reports. “Sources familiar with the U.S. antitrust inquiry into the acquisition have told Reuters they were concerned about the impact of the deal on applications developers.”

“‘It (regulatory investigation) should be rigorous. Our clients will welcome a close look,’ WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Europe,” Grajewski reports. “‘I don’t think in the case of DoubleClick it was deep enough and strong enough,’ he said… The European Commission, the EU antitrust watchdog, is now looking into complaints by three online companies against Google. It can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global revenues for violating EU competition rules.”

Full article here.