The European Commission has begun to delve in earnest into Google Inc.’s proposed purchase of ad serving and tracking company DoubleClick, responding to fears the deal would bulk up Google’s prowess for letting advertisers efficiently buy and sell ads online.

Google watchers have said the $3.1 billion deal was bound to meet with regulatory scrutiny soon after it was announced in May. But with the EU giving itself until early April to decide whether the transaction would unduly handicap rivals like Yahoo or AOL, Google is showing more signs of impatience.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he was disappointed by the move, and even complained that the delay on DoubleClick would leave the Web search leader playing with one hand tied behind its back as Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft already enjoy the benefits of their online ad acquisitions.      

That can’t be a reassuring message, particularly as domestic market troubles and economic concerns for 2008 lie heavily on the horizon, raising fears the advertising market will take a hit.      

Google and its closest competitors might take heart from the media and Internet experts at Sanford C. Bernstein, who say Web advertising is the least likely to suffer from an economic downturn, with the strongest Internet players even more immune. Of course, these predictions could also bolster the EU’s position, since they show Google’s growth staying well ahead of other major players and surpassed only by the likes of MySpace and Facebook.

From Bernstein’s note on Wednesday:

The wide variation in Q3 ad revenue growth among the major players shows a pattern we expect to be repeated and amplified in a full-blown economic downturn: Google 62%, Yahoo 16%, MySpace 135%, Facebook ~200%, AOL 10% (excluding Advertising.com), and the US industry average of 25%.  

Keep an eye on:

• Time Inc CEO Ann Moore says Bankers ‘Lust’ For Spinoff But Don’t See It Happening (PaidContent)
• Apple’s iPhone is unlikely to hit Chinese shelves soon because of technical and fee issues. (Reuters)
• Britain’s BSkyB CEO James Murdoch dismissed speculation that his group’s purchase of a stake in ITV was linked to a longer term plan to take control of Channel Five. (Reuters)
• Maverick book publisher Judith Regan, fired by HarperCollins last year after her O.J. Simpson book was scrapped, filed a $100 million lawsuit against her former employers accusing them of defamation. (Reuters)
• Ad sales are going quickly for disgraced radio shock jock Don Imus’s return to the airwaves Dec. 3, and many big-name guests from the worlds of politics and media appear ready to welcome him back. (New York Online)

(Photo: Reuters)