One of the largest bidding wars in the IT industry occurred several weeks ago when Google and Microsoft both put down big bins of cash for Internet ad giant DoubleClick. After agreeing to lay down $3.1 billion for DoubleClick, Google was declared the official winner.

Two months after Google's acquisition of DoubleClick, Microsoft acquired aQuantive Inc. for $6 billion USD -- the largest purchase Microsoft has ever made and nearly double the amount that Google paid for DoubleClick.

This week the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a preliminary antitrust probe into Google and its acquisition of DoubleClick. During the final stages of the acquisition, analysts suspected that the U.S. Justice Department would eventually step in with its own investigation.

No one would doubt the combined powers of Google and DoubleClick make for extremely lucrative business. DoubleClick made its business by tracking what websites are visited most often by users; Google collects search histories, queries and website statistics.  Combined, the companies potentially can track internet users across every facet of normal websurfing.

The FTC does not traditionally keep an eye out for such privacy concerns.  However, given the heavy leverage from Microsoft and other industry advocates, an antitrust inquiry was almost inevitable.  

"We are confident that upon further review the FTC will conclude that this acquisition poses no risk to competition and should be approved," indicates Don Harrison, senior corporate counsel for Google.

During this time, Yahoo! has made moves of its own in the advertising industry. Within a short period after Google's announcement with DoubleClick, Yahoo! revealed that it would pay $680 million USD for controlling share of Right Media. Harrison points to deals such as this, indicating that acquisitions such as Google’s are a norm in the industry.