NEW YORK -
Shares of Google Inc. jumped Tuesday morning after the European Union approved the Internet search engine's $3.1 billion buyout of online ad tracker DoubleClick.
The stock rose $16.16, or 3.9 percent, to $429.78 after the opening bell.
Regulators at the 27-nation community said the deal will not hurt competition for online ads, and approved the deal over objections that it would give Mountain View, Calif.-based Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) too much power.
The EU said the deal would not squeeze out competitors and said Microsoft Corp. (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), Yahoo Inc. (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) and Time Warner (nyse: TWX - news - people ) Inc.'s AOL provide "credible" alternatives for placing ads on Web sites.
The approval comes at a time of tension between Microsoft and Google. The software company had initially objected to the DoubleClick deal, and Google is currently voicing concern about Microsoft's interest in buying Yahoo.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press.