DoubleClick

In 1995, Kevin O'Connor and Dwight Merriman developed the concept for DoubleClick in O'Connor's basement. The pair created a system to display banner ads across a network of websites and track their performance to better target internet users.[5] The product caught the attention of entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, who later joined as the company's CFO and later became its CEO.[5]

Later that year, O'Connor and Merriman met Fergus O'Daily, the CEO of Poppe Tyson. Poppe Tyson had created an Interactive Sales division, but lacked the technology to deliver online ads across its network of client's sites. O'Connor, Merriman and O'Daily decided to merge the two companies.[6][7] The merger caused some issues at Poppe Tyson, however, because it meant that Poppe's sales force would compete against the internal sales teams of the websites it served. To remedy the situation, in November 1995 they spun off DoubleClick as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary.[6] DoubleClick was founded as one of the earliest known Application Service Provider (ASP) for internet "ad-serving"—primarily banner ads.[8]

DoubleClick launched an IPO on the NASDAQ under the "DCLK" ticker symbol in early 1998.[9] In June 1999, DoubleClick announced that it would merge with Abacus Direct Corp., which marketed consumer-purchasing data to catalog firms.[10] Soon after, privacy groups complained that DoubleClick's plan to combine its online profiling information with offline information gathered by Abacus Direct would violate privacy rules, as it would allow the company to match a person's identity with their online habits, which it tracks through cookies.[11][12] In February 2000, The FTC announced it had launched an investigation into the matter.[13] The investigation was concluded in early 2001, with the FTC stating that it found no evidence that DoubleClick used or disclosed consumers personal identifying information.[14][15]

In April 2005, Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, announced its intent to acquire the company for $1.1 billion.[16] Following the acquisition, the company was separated into two divisions, an internet ad-management business and a data-solutions business for direct marketers.[16]

Google announced on April 13, 2007 that it had come to a definitive agreement to acquire DoubleClick for US$3.1 billion in cash.[17][18] The deal raised concerns surrounding competition with both the FTC and the European Union. In May 2007, the FTC requested additional information about the deal after it was urged by competitors, including Microsoft,[19] who believed it would give Google too much control over online advertising.[20] On December 20, 2007, the FTC approved Google's purchase of DoubleClick from its owners Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity, saying, "after carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is unlikely to substantially lessen competition."[21] European Union regulators granted approval on March 11, 2008, and Google completed the acquisition later that day.[22] On April 2, 2008, Google announced it would cut 300 jobs at DoubleClick due to organizational redundancies. Selected employees would be matched within the Google organization as per position and experience.[23]

In 2007, shortly after the announcement of the acquisition, it was reported that DoubleClick had been serving ads designed to trick users into buying malware. This occurred after a malicious website tricked several name-brand websites into serving the ads.[24]