Last week I posted about the competition that was brewing over the acquisition of DoubleClick, with Microsoft being the initial front runner. Well it appears that Google has stolen the deal for a cool US$3.1 billion.

So what does the acquisition of DoubleClick really mean for the search engine and online marketing industry?

For Google, it’s a real chance for them to tap into top end online brand marketing where significant dollars are spent by major corporations. It’s an interesting move considering the effort that has gone into expanding AdSense’s media options, but as DoubleClick has strong brand equity already - they will be covering both ends of the market.

More importantly, it further increases their ad publishing real estate. Considering how much space they already have with the AdSense network, DoubleClick’s portfolio of websites will be a welcome addition to the Google range.

As for Microsoft and Yahoo!, the new deal is another nail in the coffin (so to speak). The competitive gap between Google and Microsoft just gets bigger and bigger. While Yahoo! already has its own display advertising subsidiary, DoubleClick was considered by many to be Microsoft’s last hope.

The Google - DoubleClick deal has many rivals questioning the competitive equity in the online advertising market. Many are concerned about the advertising monopoly that is developing. It’ll be interesting to see whether regulatory intervention occurs.