FTC sniffing around Google-AdMob deal; Is a challenge coming?

The U.S. government may be gearing up to challenge Google’s $750 million acquisition of mobile ad company AdMob, according to a Bloomberg report.

The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly seeking sworn declarations from Google’s competitors and advertisers, a sign that the agency may try to block the deal or at least modify it.  Unnamed sources “with direct knowledge of the matter” told Bloomberg that at least two companies are being asked to sign statements.

Google remains in talks with the government and said in a statement that it is confident that the government will find that the mobile ad space will remain competitive after the close of the deal.

Google announced in November that it planned to acquire AdMob in a deal valued at $750 million in stock. The intention was clear: Google said the purchase will “enhance Google’s existing expertise and technology in mobile advertising.” Google, already an advertising giant on the Web, has its sights set on mobile next. And with AdMob, Google could also acquire a suite of mobile tools, including an ad marketplace, analytics and metric tracking.

At the time, AdMob CEO and founder Omar Hamoui wrote in a blog post that the landscape was changing fast and that “Lately, it seems that almost every week we hear about a new idea or company in the mobile advertising space.” In his own blog post, Larry Dignan noted that this deal was probably a good thing for AdMob, which would likely wind up competing with Google eventually. Dignan wrote:

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Google is positioning itself in the same center of the ad universe. AdMob gets a nice payday, more resources and a big partner. Given the alternative—eventually being run over by Google—it’s hard to turn down the deal.