DigitMemo.com

Google’s plan to buy DoubleClick is being reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and was the subject of a Senate hearing on Thursday

Google Thursday defended its planned acquisition of online ad company DoubleClick, even as a Microsoft-funded think tank, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, released a report arguing against the deal.

Google announced that it would acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in April. The deal has raised antitrust concerns in the U.S., the E.U., and in Australia. It is being reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and was the subject of a Senate hearing on Thursday.

In testimony to be delivered before the Senate, David Drummond, Google SVP for Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, says the deal will benefit consumers, promote free speech, and help small businesses. “Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick will help advance these goals while protecting consumer privacy and enabling greater innovation, competition, and growth,” he says.

“DoubleClick is to Google what FedEx or UPS is to Amazon.com,” says Drummond. “Our current business involves primarily the selling of text-based ads — books in our analogy. By contrast, DoubleClick’s business at its core is to deliver and report on display ads.”