Did EU’s Officials Overlook Personal Connections between Google and DoubleClick?

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- The business-news service Bloomberg reported on Thursday that European Union regulators have made up their minds to approve Google Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) $3.1 billion takeover of DoubleClick, which suggests the deal has leapt the last hurdle necessary to finalize it.

"DoubleClick's products help advertisers measure how effective their ads are and allow Web publishers to track and manage online advertising," the Bloomberg article explained.

If true, the EU’s approval came despite the personal connections between members of the two companies, which evidently passed European regulatory muster. 

NewsVisual created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map that illustrates the personal connections between Google and DoubleClick that could have disqualified the deal in the minds of some EU authorities.

The Map shows that a host of common connections exists between the two companies’ Directors and Senior Executives, including through Martha Stewart Omnimedia Inc, The Walt Disney Co, and Harvard University.

To see several more links between Google and DoubleClick, you can visit the Knowledge Map.

Click here for an interactive and fuller version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).