Federal Trade Commission regulators voted 4-1 to approve the Google-DoubleClick merger. According to the WSJ, the commission ruled that the deal is "unlikely to substantially lessen competition." Google announced the merger eight months ago, but antitrust and privacy concerns brought by Microsoft slowed the deal in Washington. In the end, Microsoft, with its $500 million Viacom deal as well as its $240 million investment in Facebook, likely convinced regulators that the online-advertising business is as competitive as Google always argued.

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