Google's Mad Dash

Just in time for its quarterly week in the spotlight, here comes Google's(GOOG Quote) highly anticipated second act: display advertising.

Late Friday, the search giant -- which will report first-quarter earnings on Thursday -- announced that it had acquired online advertising tech firm DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. Consistent with prior statements that it considers its own stock undervalued, Google paid the deal in cash to the consortium of private equity firms that held DoubleClick.

The acquisition will provide a serious boost to Google's efforts in the market for rich, graphic advertising. Until now, the overwhelming majority of Google's revenue has come from the small, four-line text ads served up next to its search results. ...