Following the recent clearance by the European Commission to allow Google's acquisition of DoubleClick to proceed in Europe, Google has now cleared all the major hurdles in the takeover plan and the deal is now finalised. Now Google will need to begin the hard work of making the deal work, by combining the advertiser services into an integrated package and pushing new products into the market.

An article by Business Week sets out the implications for the online advertising market and how display advertising is expected to see a resurgence as new targeting tools and analytics enable advertisers to make better use of this medium.

The move also provides another setback for Microsoft and may precipitate a more urgent attempt to buy Yahoo! so that they can strengthen their position within the search market and avoid losing share in the display advertising sector. In a new move, AdWeek reports that Microsoft have just purchased Rapt, a company that enables advertisers to manage their online ad inventory - a further sign that this sector will become a new battleground between the two search rivals.