BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A European consumer group said that Google's proposed $3.1 billion takeover of DoubleClick would lead to less revenue for publishers and higher prices for advertisers.
Google would be given "significant control" over online advertising through the transaction, lobbying group BEUC wrote Tuesday in a letter to Neelie Kroes, the European Union's competition commissioner.
"Google, without meaningful competitive constraints, will be free to raise prices to advertisers," the group wrote.
BEUC, a group consisting of more than 40 national consumer organizations from 30 European countries, previously expressed concerns that the deal would jeopardize consumer privacy.
Google, which is seeking to buy DoubleClick to bolster its sales of Internet ads including pictures and videos, has said the merger would not harm consumers.
The proposed purchase is the subject of a European Union antitrust probe. The European Parliament will hold a hearing on privacy issues in January.
The European Commission, the EU's antitrust authority, investigated Google's plans and said the purchase may hurt competition for online-advertising dollars. A ruling is expected by April 2.
"Our proposed acquisition of DoubleClick will be good for consumers, publishers and advertisers," Google said Wednesday. "The online advertising and ad-serving arenas are highly competitive."
Consumers are just "a click away from the competition," Google said, and "publishers and advertisers can easily move across providers of online services."
Google generates revenue by selling text-based ads that appear alongside search results. DoubleClick's two main products help Web publishers and companies manage online advertising. The software handles display ads, which include graphics or animation.
BEUC's five-page letter also said Web publishers would receive less revenue because Google could prevent other ad networks from working with DoubleClick's publisher tools.
"Google-DoubleClick's monopoly will give the company the incentive to seize for itself an increasing share of total online-advertising spending, taking more from advertisers and giving less to publishers, to the ultimate detriment of consumers," the group wrote.
The BEUC also wrote that the combined company would be able to control a "vast amount" of advertising space on the Internet, boosting costs for advertisers and making Google "the gateway to online advertising."
Google rejected this claim and argued that "multiple players" will continue to compete in the market.
