Google Snaps Up Mobile Ad Startup For $750 Million

MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc. is buying mobile advertising network AdMob for $750 million, underscoring the Internet search leader's determination to ensure its marketing machine reaches the growing number of people surfing the Web on phones.

The all-stock deal announced Monday also represents the latest sign that Google's leaders are feeling better about the economy's direction, encouraging them to spend more freely after clamping down through much of this year.

Once it closes within the next few months, the AdMob acquisition would become Google's most expensive purchase since it bought online ad service DoubleClick for $3.2 billion in March 2008.

It took a year to close the DoubleClick deal, far longer than Google anticipated, as U.S. antitrust regulators took time before deciding the DoubleClick combination wouldn't stifle competition in the online ad market. Google expressed confidence that antitrust regulators won't need as long to vet the AdMob deal because there are still several other mobile ad networks from which to choose.

AdMob shares at least one similarity with DoubleClick: AdMob's system specializes in delivering more visual messages, known as display advertising. Google makes most of its money from text-based ads connected to search requests, but has been trying to become a bigger player in display ads — a format that tends to be favored by big-spending companies trying to promote their brands.