It is well known that Microsoft has been leading a heated effort to block Google from purchasing DoubleClick.Not only did Microsoft hire the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller to create a group called the Initiative for Competitive Online Marketplace to fight the deal, but the tech giant has also had its team of antitrust lawyers and lobbyists knocking on the doors of the Federal Trade Commission. Their efforts apparently did not succeed — the commission approved the merger on Thursday — but they are bound to take their same bullets overseas to try to convince the European Commission, which could still block the deal.The New York Times was provided with copies of three documents that Microsoft circulated to the F.T.C.’s five commissioners this fall. The person who provided them, on the condition that he remain anonymous, said he had received them from an antitrust attorney and a lobbyist at Microsoft. They provide Microsoft’s view of how the online advertising industry works now and where it is headed. They say that the Google and DoubleClick deal, if successful, would “impair its rivals’ ability to compete to sell and serve ads.”
bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/microsofts-arguments-against-google-doubleclick-marriage/